The idea for this study originated in early December 2000, in the aftermath of the “UNRWA – SDC Workshop on Emergency Needs of Palestinian Refugees” held in Lausanne on 30.11 – 1.12.2000. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) felt it was timely and appropriate to run a poll in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to better grasp the perceptions of the Palestinian population concerning the role and the impact of international and local aid during the current period of crisis.

SDC contracted the Graduate Institute of Development Studies (IUED) of the University of Geneva, Switzerland, to conduct the study. The IUED set up a small team of experts for the project, composed of Dr. Riccardo Bocco (professor of political sociology and research director at IUED), Mr. Matthias Brunner (lecturer in political science methodology at the Department of Political Science of the University of Geneva and director of CyberProjects) and Mr. Jamil Rabah (poll specialist and consultant for SDC Gaza and West Bank Liaison Office in Palestine).

During the month of December the team worked on the elaboration of the questionnaire for the poll and benefited from exchanges and discussions with Prof. Elia Zureik (sociologist, Queen’s University, Canada), Mr. Jalal Husseini (researcher at the Department of Refugee Affairs, PLO, Ramallah) and Prof. Rémy Leveau (political scientist, Institut d’Etudes Politiques, Paris).

In January 2001, the JMCC (Jerusalem Media & Communication Centre) was contracted to run the poll, under the supervision of Mr. Ghassan Khatib and Ms. Manal Warrad. The draft of the questionnaire was also presented to a number of concerned parties and pre-tested for validity by the JMCC.

The results of the poll were ready by early February and the authors of this report met in Jerusalem from 10 to 17 February to examine the breakdown of the data and its tabulation. During the same week, the authors of the report also interviewed a number of concerned actors in Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to get a preliminary feedback on the poll’s findings.

The data were coded and entered by the JMCC, while the analysis and weighting of the data is the sole responsibility of the authors of the report.