New Poll Shows Majority Of Palestinians Support Stabbing Attacks On Israelis

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — A new poll indicates that a majority of Palestinians back near-daily stabbing attacks on Israelis, but that support dropped by nine points to 58 percent over the past three months.

Monday’s survey also shows that a candidate from the Islamic militant group Hamas would handily win presidential elections if competing against the incumbent, Mahmoud Abbas, but would lose to a jailed leader of Abbas’ Fatah party.

Abbas’ popularity remains low. Two-thirds of 1,270 respondents in the West Bank and Gaza said they want him to resign.

Two-thirds also say that if current tensions escalate into an armed uprising, it would serve Palestinian interests better than negotiations.

The poll by the independent Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey was conducted last week, with an error margin of 3 percentage points.