The West Bank Data Base 1987 Report: Demographic, Economic, Legal, Social and Political Developments in the West Bank by Meron Benvenisti

Author:Meron Benvenisti [Benvenisti, Meron]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Middle Eastern, Social Science, Political Science, World, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781000607680
Google: P2GlDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 52579565
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-07-23T00:00:00+00:00

Public Opinion Poll

Further evidence of an inherent, internally generated struggle emerged from a survey of political attitudes of Palestinians in the territories. This was conducted by a research team from a-Najah University in Nablus and sponsored by al-Fajr, an East Jerusalem paper, Newsday (Long Island, USA), and the Australian Broadcasting Company.

Among the most surprising results were that 93.5 percent of the respondents believe the PLO is the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and the preferred leader is Yassir Arafat (71.1 percent), as opposed to 3.4 percent favoring King Hussein. Some 78.4 percent believe that acts of violence are justified in the pursuit of the Palestinian cause. Justification was given to the 1978 hijacking of an Israeli bus on the Tel-Aviv-Haifa highway by 87.6 percent of the respondents, placing a bomb on an Israeli El-Al plane by 60.5 percent, and the December 1985 attack against passengers in Vienna and Rome airports by 36.9 percent. The operative term in this question was “justified” and therefore, does not imply an overall terrorist population or mentality, but rather an environment within which terrorism can flourish.

Among those Israelis wishing to believe in reduced support for the PLO and a turn toward the favour of Israeli-Jordanian cooperation, the poll was dismissed as biased on the grounds that respondents were influenced by the interviewers, whom they described as Fatah activists. Indeed, one can argue that there were some biases in the survey. For example, 13 percent of those polled were in the professional/white collar category whereas in the CBS Statistics of Employed Persons, this group constitutes only 3–5 percent of the population. Some 13.9 percent of the sample were illiterate as opposed to 25 percent of the population; only 5 percent listed their place of work as Israel though in actuality, the number is about 37 percent. Therefore, the poll is a representation of the more politically active, professional segment ofthe society. Still, if one assumes the poll represents the opinions of the political elite, the results are quite significant.

In response to charges that interviewers intimidated the respondents, one would have to say that if the masses are so frightened as to be forced into these responses, this in itself would be an example of the strength of the PLO in the territories. Secondly, at each home people were asked if they wanted to participate in the survey. If they refused, the interviewer went to another home.

One must consider that the survey was done after twenty years of life under occupation and at a time when the local population is at a point of hopelessness and even desperation. The PLO, as an organization, remains for the Palestinians the only political institution that symbolizes Palestinian aspirations. The fact that support for the current PLO leadership falls to 71.2 percent against 93.5 percent support for the institution, shows, however, growing dissatisfaction with the concrete results accomplished by its leaders. The reason the Israeli public was so shocked by the poll is that for the Israeli, the

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