RAMALLAH, March 1, 2017 - Most Palestinians are pessimistic about the prospects for peace after the election of Donald Trump as US president, found a poll published by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center on Thursday.

According to the survey conducted from February 17-21, 53.7% of Palestinians have a dim view of the possibility of resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict. Only 4.7% of respondents said they were optimistic, compared with 28.1% of respondents who were positive about peace after the election of Barack Obama in 2009.

A much lower 18.1% of respondents thought Obama's election boded ill for the peace process when he was first elected. Many respondents after the rise of both new US presidents thought there would be no change, and some did not respond.

Similarly, nearly half of Palestinians polled (48.5%) said that Trump's election would be an obstacle to a just peace between Palestinians and Israelis. Forty percent thought it would make no difference.

Nearly one-fourth (23.4%) of Palestinians called for their leadership to withdraw its recognition of Israel, achieved through the Declaration of Principles in 1993, if the US goes ahead with a proposal to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, thereby recognizing Israel's control of the city. Another one-fourth of respondents (19.7%) supported a boycott of the US embassy, 18.7%  said Palestinians should lodge a complaint at the UN, while 16.5% said their leaders should refuse to deal with the US as the sponsor to the peace process.

The complete poll results, including aggregated results by sex and questions on gender and equality, are available here.