March 19, 2008.
RAMALLAH, West Bank – A new poll shows that an overwhelming majority of
Palestinians support the attack this month on a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem
that killed eight young men, most of them teenagers, an indication of the
alarming level of Israeli-Palestinian tension in recent weeks.
The survey also shows unprecedented support for the shooting of rockets on
Israeli towns from the Gaza Strip and for the end of the peace negotiations
between Palestinian and Israeli leaders.
According to the poll, of 1,270 Palestinians in face-to-face interviews, 84
percent supported the March 6 attack on the Mercaz Harav yeshiva. The poll
has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
On negotiations between Ehud Olmert, prime minister of Israel, and Mr. Abbas
of the Palestinian Authority, 75 percent said they were without benefit and
should be terminated. Regarding the thousands of rockets that have been
launched on Israeli towns like Sderot and Ashkelon, 64 percent support it.
