• Introduction
• Methodology
• Sample distribution
• Occupation of respondents
• Results

Results of JMCC's November public opinion poll indicate a significat change in Palestinian public opinion on a number of political issues, which appears due largely to certain significant political events which occured over the past three months. The main aspects of this shift in attitude can be summarized as follows:

• A significant increase in level of support to the Hamas movement in particular, and to political and religious opposition groups in general. The level of support and confidence in Hamas rose from 11.3% in July of this year to 17.3% in this poll. In addition, the level of support and confidence groups opposing the peace process (Hamas, Islamic Jihad, other Islamic organizations, PFLP, DFLP) went up to 25% from 20.1% in July. This may be due to popular sympathy gained by Hamas after the Israeli assassination attempt against Khalid Masha'al in Amman, and the subsequent release of Sheikh Yassin. Sheikh Yassin's return to Gaza was accompained by popular festivals and media coverage that put Hamas and its leaders at the forefront of the news for some time.
• The rise in levels of support for the peace process and those engaged in it, especially the Fateh movement and PA president Yasser Arafat. Support for the peace process rose to 74.2% from 68.7%. Support for Fateh increased from 34.8% in Jyly to 40.9%. Moreover, levels of support for Arafat increased from 37.6% to 46.4%. This could be attributed to the latest political developments -- Israel's avoiding implementation of the agreements signed with the Palestinians, and the recent Israeli proposals on redeployment. These Israeli attempts to avoid their obligations under signed agreements appear to make the Palestinians then cling to these agreements. It may be too that President Arafat's firm position against the Israel's proposals and the increased tension in bilateral relations have caused the increase in confidence in his leadership. The extensive campaign in the Israeli media about the state of Arafat's health might also have contributed to an increase in Palestinian sympathies for him.
• The increase in support both for Fateh and the opposition go hand in hand with a decrease in respondents who say the trust no one. People who felt they had no trust in anyone decreased from 31.2% in July to 17.3% in November. It may be that the escalating political crisis between Palestinians and Israelis has deepened the polarization among Palestinians, leading to a decrease in number of reluctant Palestinians and increasing the divisions between those who support and those in opposition.
• On the conomic level, only 19.2% of those surveyed believe that the peace process has had a positive impact on the Palestinian economy, while 38.3% believe that the peace process has had either a very negative or negative impact on the Palestinian economy. It is worth nothing that these figures coincide with recent UN reports indicating a decline in living standards and national and individual incomes in Palestine during the peace process years.
• Finally, 81% still believe that corruption is widespread in the Palestinian Authority; only 6.9% believe there is no corruption. 40.8% perecent believe that the Authority is capable of handling this corruption, while 47.8% see the Authority as not doing enought to fight corruption.

A random sample of 1,10 Palestinians, over the age of 18 years, were interviewed throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip on 19, 20 and 21 November 1997. The interviews were conducted on randomly selected homes, and the subjects inside each home were also selected randomly according to Kish tables. The interviews were conducted in 60 sampling points chosen randomly according to population.

In the West Bank, 749 people were surveyed from the following areas: Jerusalem: Od city, Beit Hanina, al-Ram, Dahyat al-Barid, al-'Izaria, Jabal al-Mukaber. Bethlehem: Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Beit Sahour, Deiheishe Refugee Camp (RC). Hebron: Hebron, Halhoul, Beit Ummar, Bani Na'im, Dura, Sa'ir, Yatta. Jenin: Jenin, Jenin RC, Ya'bad, Yamoun, 'Arabeh, Zababdeh.Tulkarem: Tulkarem, Tuklarem RC, Anbat, Far'oun, 'Illar. Qalqilia: Qalqilia. Nablus: Nablus, Balta RC, Beit Fureek, Beit Dajan, Salfit, Hiwara, 'Ain Abous. Ramallah: Ramallah, Al-Bireh, Jalzon RC, Jifna, Deir Abu Masha'el, Biddu, Ramun. Jericho: Jericho, 'Aqbat Jabr.

In the Gaza Strip, 431 people were surveyed from: Gaza city (Rimal, Sheikh Radwan, Shujaiya, Nasir, Sabra, Zeitoun), Shati RC, Khan Younis, Khan Younis RC, 'Abassan, Bani Suhelia, Rafah, Barazil, Rafah RC, Jabalia, Jabalia RC, Deir al-Balah, Deir al-Balah RC, Bureij RC, Nusseirat RC, Maghazi RC.

The major of error is plus or minus 3% with a confidence level of 95%.

• 57.1% of the respondents were from the West Bank
• 36.5% from the Gaza Strip
• 6.4% from Jerusalem
• 31.6% said they live in villages
• 22.3% in refugee camps
• 46.1% in towns/cities
• 45.6% were male
• 54.4% were female
• 62.0% were married
• 24.9% were single
• 4.1% were widowed
• 2.9% were divorced
• 6.1% No answer
• The average of age of the respondents was 34 years.

Q.1 How optimistic or pessimitic are your towards the future in general? Can you say you are very optimistic, optimistic, pessimistic or very pessimistic?
 

	Total	West Bank	Gaza Strip
Very optimistic	6.3%	5.6%	7.4%
Optimistic	66.1%	66.5%	65.4%
Pessimistic	20.3%	21.0%	19.0%
Very Pessimistic	5.8%	5.6%	6.3%
No answer	1.5%	1.3%	1.9%

Q.2 In general, do you support or oppose the current peace process between the Palestinians and Israel? Do you strongly support, somewhat support, strongly oppose or somewhat oppose?
 

	Total	West Bank	Gaza Strip
Strongly support	31.9%	33.9%	28.5%
Somewhat support	42.3%	40.6%	45.2%
Strongly oppose	9.4%	10.1%	8.1%
Somewhat oppose	12.7%	11.9%	14.2%
No opinion / do not know	2.5%	2.5%	2.3%
No answer	1.2%	1.0%	1.7%

Q.3 Do you support or oppose the continuation of negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis? Do you strongly support or somewhat support or strongly oppose or somewhat oppose?
 

	Total	West Bank	Gaza Strip
Strongly support	33.3%	34.0%	32.0%
Somewhat support	39.4%	37.5%	42.7%
Strongly oppose	11.5%	12.6%	9.7%
Somewhat oppose	11.7%	11.6%	11.8%
No opinion / do not know	2.5	2.5%	2.6%
No answer	1.6%	1.8%	1.2%

Q. 4 How confident are you that the Palestinians and Israelis will reach a satisfactory agreement on final-status issues?
 

	Total	West Bank	Gaza Strip
Very confident	7.4%	7.2%	7.7%
Somewhat confident	40.8%	39.1%	43.9%
Not confident	30.2%	31.2%	28.3%
Not confident at all	17.5%	17.6%	17.4%
No answer	4.1%	4.9%	2.7%

Q.5 Which Palestinian Personality do you trust most?
 

	Total	West Bank	Gaza Strip
Yasser Arafat	46.4%	42.6%	52.9%
Ahmed Yasin	5.8%	4.1%	8.6%
Hadiar Abdul Shafi	5.3%	6.4%	3.2%
Sa'eb Erekat	2.7%	2.9%	2.3%
Hanan Ashrawi	2.0%	2.4%	1.4%
Faisal Husseini	1.4%	1.3%	1.6%
George Habash	1.3%	1.5%	0.9%
Other personalties	8.5%	9.1%	7.4%
Do not trust anyone	16.9%	18.3%	14.4%
No answer	9.7%	11.4%	7.3%

Q.6 How did the peace process between the Palestinians and Israel affected our economy?
 

	Total	West Bank	Gaza Strip
Very positive	1.9%	1.7%	2.1%
Positive	17.3%	19.4%	13.7%
Negative	42.6%	42.3%	43.2%
Very negative	25.7%	22.4%	31.3%
Did not have an effect at all	7.8%	9.6%	4.6%
No answer	4.7%	4.6%	5.1%

Q. 7 Which Palestinian political or religious faction you trust most?
 

	Total	West Bank	Gaza Strip
Fateh	40.9%	38.2%	45.7%
Hamas	17.3%	16.3%	19.0%
PFLP	2.0%	2.0%	2.1%
Islamic Jihad	1.8%	0.9%	3.2%
DFLP	0.9%	1.1%	0.7%
PPP	0.7%	0.9%	0.2%
FIDA	0.4%	0.7%	0.0%
Other Islamic Faction	3.0%	4.1%	0.9%
Other Factions	1.2%	1.2%	1.2%
Do not trust anyone	17.3%	17.4%	17.2%
No answer	14.5%	17.2%	9.8%

Q. 8 In general, how do you evaluate the Palestinian Authority's performance? Do you say its performance is very good, good, bad or very bad?
 

	Total	West Bank	Gaza Strip
Very good	12.0%	10.3%	15.1%
Good	59.4%	60.6%	57.3%
Bad	17.1%	17.4%	16.7%
Very bad	7.3%	6.8%	8.1%
No answer	4.2%	4.9%	2.8%

Q.9 Do you support or oppose the method that the President Yasser Arafat administers his work as the National Authority's President? Strongly support, somewhat support, strongly oppose or somewhat oppose?
 

	Total	West Bank	Gaza Strip
Strongly support	36.2%	33.9%	40.1%
Somewhat support	34.4%	34.3%	34.6%
Strongly oppose	7.1%	7.9%	5.8%
Somewhat oppose	14.2%	14.8%	13.2%
No opinion / do not know	5.3%	6.0%	4.2%
No answer	2.8%	3.1%	2.1%

Q.10 In your opinion, how spread is the corruption, if found in the Palestinian Authority's (PA) institutions? It is very spread, fairly spread, little spread, or not spread at all / no corruption?
 

	Total	West Bank	Gaza Strip
Very spread	28.3%	27.5%	29.7%
Fairly spread	35.1%	35.4%	34.6%
Little spread	18.6%	17.1%	21.1%
Not spread at all / no corruption	6.9%	6.8%	7.2%
No opinion / do not know	8.3%	10.9%	3.7%
No answer	2.8%	2.3%	3.7%

Q.11 What about the Palestinian Authority's (PA) attempts to deal with the corruption issue. Do you think that the PA is working greatly, working enough, or it is not doing enough to deal with corruption? (This question asked only to those who didn't answer not spread at all / no corruption in Q. 10 above)
 

	Total	West Bank	Gaza Strip
Greatly	7.4%	7.8%	6.8%
Enough	33.4%	31.1%	37.5%
Not doing enough	47.8%	47.0%	49.2%
No opinion / do not know	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%
No answer	11.3%	14.0%	6.5%