By Dr. Aaron Lerner
May 11, 2007
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Sobering results from a recent Palestinian opinion survey, Poll of Palestinians conducted by the Near East Consulting Institution via telephone, between the 25th and 27th of April, 2007.
The most important priority of the next government:
56.8%-End the chaos and restore security
15.9%-Enforce the law
14.5%-Revive the economy
04.3%-Improve foreign relations with other countries
06.3%-Make peace with Israel
02.1%-Other
Main reason behind your feeling of concern:
26.1%-Economic hardship of my household
34.5%-Absence of security for me and my family
16.5%-Internal power struggle
03.3%-Hamas in power
00.8%-Fatah in opposition
13.7%-Israeli occupation in general
05.1%-Family problems
When Secretary of State Rice and other diplomats speak in English with Palestinian officials, they may genuinely think that the burning interest of the Palestinians is negotiating Israel's retreat in some photo-op treaty signing ceremony that forms a sovereign Palestinians state.
But that's not what the polls show. The polls show that the Palestinian street, first and foremost, wants the chaos, that has become the hallmark of the Oslo experiment come to an end.
The policy implication: the, at best, micro-steps that Ms. Rice has in mind as benchmarks for Palestinian security out of concern that "moderate" Mahmoud Abbas doesn't enjoy the support of the street to take serious measures is based on a false premise.
If anything, Abbas' best chance to succeed is if he takes a no-nonsense approach and applies his considerable force-size advantage to the task of first getting the guns off the streets and then out of the closets.
Views expressed by the author do not
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