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

The results of the Jerusalem Media and Communication Centre public opinion poll were negative for a majority of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with respect to the newly Cabinet, and were pessimistic about the performance of the Authority. Only 20.3% of those polled said that the Cabinet change made them more optimistic about the future performance of the Palestinian Authority (PA), in comparison to 33.6% who expressed pessimism about the future performance of the PA, and 40.2% said that there wan not change in their optimism or pessimism as a result of his change.

A majority of those polled did not support a vote of confidence in the new Cabinet by the Legislative Council, only 31.4% said that the Legislative Council should give a vote of confidence in the new Cabinet, while 38.6% said that the Legislative Council must give the new Cabinet a non-confidence vote, 27% did not know, and 3% did not answer the question.

This change did not bring any change in the confidence of the public in President Arafat, with 23.8% of those polled said that the Cabinet change increased their confidence in President Arafat, 23.3% said that the Cabinet change decreased their confidence in President Arafat, while the majority 48.4% said that the Cabinet change did not affect their confidence in President Arafat.

With majority of 77.5% believing that there is corruption in the PA, only 23.4% of respondents said that the latest Cabinet change will help deal with the problem of corruption in the PA, while 33.4% said that this Cabinet change will increase the problem of corruption in the PA, and 37.9% said that this will not have any change in corruption in the PA.

With repect to the resignations of two of the ministers as a result of the Cabinet change, 32.1% of those polled supported the resignations and 26.5% opposed the resignations, while 22.3% of respondents did not know there any resignations, 14.7% had no opinions, and 4.4% did not respond to the question. 

A random sample of 1,204 Palestinians, over the age of 18 years, were interviewed throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip on 8 August 1998. The interviews were conducted on face to face basis on busy street corners in the main towns

In the West Bank, 765 people were surveyed from the following areas: Jenin, Tulkarem, Qalailia, Bethlehem, Hebron, Jerusalem, Ramallah, al-Bireh.

In the Gaza Strip, 439 people were surveyed from: Gaza City, Rafah, Maghazi, al-Bureij, Beit Hanoun, Nusseirat, Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis, Jabalia, Beit Lahia.

The margin of error is 3 percent, with a confidence level of 95.

• 54.8% of the respondents were from the West Bank
• 36.1% from the Gaza Strip
• 9.1% from Jerusalem
• 28.3% said they live in villages
• 42.2% in refugee camps
• 42.2% in towns/cities
• 56.3% were male
• 43.7% were female
• (The interviewers reported that a large number of women declined to be interviewed, particularly in Gaza Strip)
• The average of age of the respondents was 33.6 years.

Q.1 How knowledgeable are you in the cabinet reshuffle?
 

	Total	West Bank	Gaza Strip
Very knowledgeable	19.4%	16.5%	24.4%
Somewhat knowledgeable	59.5%	60.8%	57.2%
No knowledge at all	19.6%	21.3%	16.6%
No answer	1.5%	1.4%	1.8%

Q.2 Waht do you think abou the new cabinet reshuffle; did it make you more optimistic or more pessimistic, abou the perforemance of the PA?
 

	Total	West Bank	Gaza Strip
More optimistic	20.3%	19.7%	21.2%
More pessimistic	33.6%	33.9%	33.3%
Did not change my opinion	40.2%	40.4%	39.9%
No answer	5.9%	6.0%	5.6%

Q.3 Do you think the Palestinian Legislative Council must grant or deny the new cabinet reshuffle a vote of confidence?
 

	Total	West Bank	Gaza Strip
Must grant a vote of confidence	31.4%	28.1%	37.1%
Deny the vote of confidence	38.6%	37.8%	40.1%
I do not know	27.0%	31.1%	19.8%
No answer	3.0%	3.0%	3.0%

Q. 4 Did the new cabinet reshuffle increase or decrease your support to President Arafat, or did it make no change?
 

	Total	West Bank	Gaza Strip
Increased my support	23.8%	22.2%	26.7%
decreased my supoort	23.3%	23.4%	23.0%
Did not make any change in my position	48.4%	49.8%	46.0%
No answer	4.5%	4.6%	4.3%

Q.5 Who is the current head of the Labor Party?
 

	Total	West Bank	Gaza Strip
Yes	77.5%	73.7%	84.1%
No	20.7%	24.7%	13.7%
No answer	1.8%	1.6%	2.2%

Q.6 Do you believe that the recent cabinet reshuffle will lead to an increase in corruption or deal with the corruption problem or it won't make any change?
 

	Total	West Bank	Gaza Strip
Will increase corruption	33.4%	38.1%	26.3%
Will deal with the corruption problem	23.4%	24.3%	22.0%
Will not make any change regarding the corruption problem	37.9%	33.0%	45.5%
No answer	15.3%	4.6%	6.2%

Q. 7 Do you support or oppose the follwoing expressions:

Total
 

	Support	Oppose	No answer
The cabinet reshuffle will result in reducing criticism of the Executive Authority by the PLC	41.4%	46.5%	12.1%
The cabinet reshuffle increased the number of ministers, so the PA performance will be better	34.6%	56.8%	8.6%
The cabinet reshuffle will make President Arafat head a more successful Cabinet	45.1%	44.6%	10.3%
Increasing the number of ministers from Fateh will strengthen the PA	47.8%	42.4%	9.8%
The Cabinet reshuffle will strengthen Palestinian national unity	44.9%	44.5%	10.6%

West Bank
 

	Support	Oppose	No answer
The cabinet reshuffle will result in reducing criticism of the Executive Authority by the PLC	41.0%	47.6%	11.4%
The cabinet reshuffle increased the number of ministers, so the PA performance will be better	32.2%	58.3%	9.5%
The cabinet reshuffle will make President Arafat head a more successful Cabinet	44.2%	45.0%	10.8%
Increasing the number of ministers from Fateh will strengthen the PA	47.5%	42.6%	9.9%
The Cabinet reshuffle will strengthen Palestinian national unity	49.0%	41.4%	9.6%

Gaza Strip
 

	Support	Oppose	No answer
The cabinet reshuffle will result in reducing criticism of the Executive Authority by the PLC	41.9%	44.6%	13.5%
The cabinet reshuffle increased the number of ministers, so the PA performance will be better	38.7%	54.2%	7.1%
The cabinet reshuffle will make President Arafat head a more successful Cabinet	4.7%	44.0%	93%
Increasing the number of ministers from Fateh will strengthen the PA	48.3%	42.1%	9.6%
The Cabinet reshuffle will strengthen Palestinian national unity	37.6%	49.9%	12.5%

Q. 8 Do you support or oppose the resignation submitted by two of the ministers in the recent cabinet reshuffle?
 

	Total	West Bank	Gaza Strip
I support	32.1%	29.5%	36.7%
I oppose	26.5%	25.6%	28.0%
I do not know about the resignations	22.3%	22.4%	22.1%
I have no opinion	14.7%	17.1%	10.5%
No answer	4.4%	5.4%	2.7%