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Onderzoek in Gaza infographic
Graphic shows selected results of polls in the Gaza Strip prior to the Hamas attack on Israel.
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CONFLICT

Wat Palestijnen van Hamas vinden

By Duncan Mil

December 13, 2023 - Twin surveys by the Arab Barometer and Washington Institute before the Israel-Hamas war broke out found that the vast majority of Gazans are frustrated with the militant group’s leadership.

Twin surveys by the Arab Barometer and Washington Institute before the Israel-Hamas war broke out found that the vast majority of Gazans are frustrated with the militant group’s leadership.

In early October, Arab Barometer, a research network on Arab countries, surveyed Gaza and the West Bank. The next day, October 7, Hamas launched its brutal attack on Israel, and the Israel-Hamas war broke out.

“We find in our surveys that 67 per cent of Palestinians in Gaza had little or no trust in Hamas in that period right before the attacks,” said Amaney Jamal, dean of Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs and one of the driving forces behind the Arab Barometer.

Israeli officials have, in effect, declared that the entire population of Gaza is part of Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure and is, therefore, a legitimate target of Israeli retaliation.

“Seventy-five per cent said they could not afford to feed their households,” said Jamal.

“When we ask people, who do you blame? We thought that the number-one culprit was going to be Israel because of the blockade. But most people cited Hamas corruption, more so than they cited the Israel blockade.”

Ahead of the attacks on Israel, more than half of respondents favoured a two-state solution -- a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Just one in five supported armed resistance before the events of October 7 and the Israeli military response that followed.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 13/12/2023; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Getty Images
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