The Palestinian Viewpoint

Palestinian FlagThe MSM has been showing a lot of clips of various protesters of Israel’s attacks on Hamas in Gaza. To listen to them one would believe that the Palestinians are united in the belief that the crisis is Israel’s fault. This is a thought that most of the Left desperately wants to believe.

I think that perhaps somebody should ask the Palestinians though…

It seems that, since the international media wouldn’t ask the Palestinians what they thought of the current war in Gaza, their own media – The Ma’an News Agency – chose to do it themselves. In a series of four (4) polls the Ma’an News Agency (MNA) queries the Palestinian people themselves on their views of the struggle for Gaza. Here are the results:

Who is to blame for the loss of life in Gaza?

  • Hamas — 51.82%
  • Israel — 44.06%
  • Egypt — 1.86%
  • Other — 2.27%

How long will the Israeli massacre in Gaza continue?

  • One Week — 12.69%
  • One  Month — 23.06%
  • Several Months — 13.84%
  • Until Arab or international forces intervene — 23.39%
  • Other — 27.02%

Who bears responsibility for the collapse of the Gaza truce?

  • Hamas — 39.25%
  • Israel — 34.48%
  • Fatah and the Palestinian Authority — 3.52%
  • Egypt — 2.38%
  • Other armed groups in Gaza — 0.81%
  • Other — 1.58%
  • All of the above — 17.99%

What is the most appropriate Palestinian response to Israeli settler attacks?

  • Calling for an international peacekeeping force — 30.54%
  • Preventative armed resistance from citizens — 22.59%
  • Stoic non-violence from all parties — 12.97%
  • Mobilize Palestinian security to protect civilians — 12.76%
  • Defensive protective measures from citizens — 7.74%
  • Demanding Israeli forces step-up their role — 6.69%
  • Other — 6.69%

It’s not too surprising that the Liberal media, in their ongoing quest to cater to the preconceptions of the Left, doesn’t particularly want to show Ma’an News’ poll results. This is the not sort of thing that they would want people to hear or read. More Palestinians blaming Hamas than blaming Israel and being in favor of an international peacekeeping force over armed resistance to the settlements are things that fly in the face of the belief that Hamas has the support of the Gazan population. That fact alone is cause enough for a media blackout!

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7 Responses to “The Palestinian Viewpoint”

  1. Paradigm Says:

    Interesting. I sure hope Hamas are not strengthened by the current development. But an online poll like this is not so reliable. Are there any restrictions on who can vote? And how many Palestinians have computers?

    I agree that the media are biased. There is little mentioning of how Hamas launches rockets from schools and hospitals and then blaming Israel. The fact that they draw fire on their own children for propagandistic gain says it all.

  2. jonolan Says:

    True, Ma’an’s poll is hardly perfect or secure, but I think it’s fairly close to accurate because a skewed or poisoned poll would have had more dramatic differences in the scores. Also, Ma’an has a good reputation in that region for independence and impartiality.

    You’d also be surprised at how urban – and urbane – Palestine is. We in the West rarely get to see beyond the conflict into the daily lives of the Palestinians. I guess rubble and dust is more photogenic…

  3. Blogosphere Potpouri « The Pugnacious Irishman Says:

    […] check out Jonolan’s post on a poll on Palestinian attitudes to the Israel-Hamas conflict.  Two questions: 1) given that the poll was online, is it accurate (Jonolan seems to think so.  […]

  4. zhann Says:

    I am curious, but where did you get those statistics? I have tried finding them on the Maan site, but with no luck. Do you have a direct link to the news article itself?

  5. jonolan Says:

    Zhann,

    Each question – in green – is a direct link to that individual poll. The only thing I did was re-sort the results based on popularity of the results.

    LOL – The difficulty in finding the information that you mentioned is one of the reasons I have some trust in the polls’ accuracy. It’s a little hard for foreigners to poison the results.

  6. zhann Says:

    Thanks, I am not sure how I missed that. Expect a linkback soon 😉

  7. Palestinian View on Who’s to Blame for Israel’s Incursion | Mizozo Says:

    […] to jonolan for the […]

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