Sep
24
Written by:
Dr. Ernie Moore
Friday, September 24, 2010
We did our radio broadcast this week on this poll, but the time constraints just didn’t allow us to get all out that we wanted to say. So we add to our remarks in print.
PA & Bethlehem Political entities (Ernie Moore
Opinion polls are tricky items. For instance the way a question is phrased has a lot to do with the answer one receives. Consider this:
“Tell me Mr. Johnson, do you beat your wife as much this year as you did last year?” See what I mean? Mr. Johnson is not going to look good from any answer he provides.
Now consider the following poll taken by and of Palestinians about what the 1361 18 year old residents of Samaria, Judea and Gaza think regarding the so-called “Palestinian problem.” Israel National News reported the results and they may surprise you. The conclusions are my own.
A majority declared that no potential cure to the Palestinian problem satisfied them.
** Only 52.5 % said they would accept the creation of a new PA State on the area of the old 1967 borders as a final solution for the Palestinian problem. 43.6% said they rejected the idea of a new Palestinian State, period.
** An even higher majority - 62.9% said they opposed the new PA State with the old 1967 borders and some land exchange with Israel to account for Israeli West Bank settlements.
This reasoning may stun you but the answer is simple. The youth of the PA have been raised to hate Israel, Jews and demand that they all either move out or be exterminated like roaches.
** Consider than in spite of the PA’s leadership constantly talking about a divided Jerusalem being the capital of both Israel and the new PA state a clear 78 % said they opposed the idea.
Here we see the same idea. The Arabs don’t want East Jerusalem, they want all of Jerusalem.
** When a confederation with Jordan was suggested, 56.1% said they opposed that too.
And I have been promoting that for such a long time. I’m crushed!
What’s that all about? There was once talk (in the King Abdullah II’s offices) about Jordan once more taking over the West Bank (excluding Israeli areas) and letting the Arabs there operate their government like a satellite state. Jordan would provide the military and security, local government would do the rest.
** When the topic of deploying troops in the West Bank to provide for security for the PA and Israel was brought up, 53.4 % opposed an Arab peace force in Judea and Samaria.
Even more discarded the idea of an international force doing the job. This time it was 61.9 percent.
The Palestinian youth want as little regulation and law enforcement as they can get. Car thefts inside Israel with the cars being moved into the West Bank Palestinian areas is viral! So too drugs, and so many other stolen items. The more troops, the more security, the less thievery.
** The majority said they expect the direct talks to fail. 63.3% blamed Israel, 20.9 said the blame would fall on US shoulders, and only 10.5 % said it would be the PA’s fault.
In 1993 the Oslo Accords were signed. Nobel Peace Prizes all ‘round! That is 17 years ago. These 18 year olds were infants. All they have known is peace talks. Peace talks that go nowhere. They are so cynical that you wouldn’t believe it! And besides, they are just saying what the rest of us know. It is theater.
** When the topic of Israel allowing building to resume in Israeli West Bank cities, 81% said Abbas should shut down the talks. A close number agreed if that also included East Jerusalem.
Of course they don’t want building. They want to lounge around. But… HOLD THE PRESSES!
There are reports of many Palestinians who are outraged with their PA leaders for wanting the building to continue shut down. They are workers who feed their homes by working for the Israelis and they want no boycotts, they want wages. The same thing is true inside Israel. You should park outside the checkpoints and see all the West Bank Palestinians cross over each morning and get into Israeli vans which carry them to and return them from building sites. I have witnessed it over and over.
Less than half of those answering said that it would be possible for Hamas in Gaza and Fatah in the West Bank to ever reconcile, and the same percentage said it didn’t matter regarding the peace talks. In spite of that, 65.4% said that they believe Gaza and the West Bank Arabs will eventually make their peace and rejoin.
Contradictory? Certainly, but that is life in this neighborhood. Say one thing one time and another right after that. Phrase the questions a bit differently, and get two opposing answers. It isn’t just Jews of which it can be said, “Two, and get three opinions.” (grin)
Regarding a West Bank Palestinian Authority election, 20% said they would not vote, and that it made little difference in events.
The poll continued on – and on, and on. The bottom line seems to us that the nearly-twenty-year-old crowd’s opinions might be summed up like this:
Over half of them want Israel obliterated and the Arabs to have all the land – minus any Jews. They don’t believe in their leadership providing a better life, or any other political/terrorist leadership on the horizon, though a majority did say they trusted Prime Minister Salem Fayyad of Fatah over the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyia.
They are not optimistic over their future, don’t have a preference for future adjustments in the status quo, and are – in our opinion, and based on observation – more interested in girls, tight tee shirts, designer shades and colorful cars than what is happening in politics. Such is the attitude among Palestinian youth, both inside Gaza and the West Bank, as well as among Israel’s Arab population. It’s Mazdas more than Molotov cocktails for this crowd.