Gaza war increased Hamas’s popularity, poll shows

A majority of the Palestinians think that Hamas is more deserving of representing and leading the Palestinian people, while a small percentage thinks Fatah is the one that deserves to do that.

Support for Hamas has increased dramatically while support for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction dropped significantly, according to a public opinion poll published on Tuesday.

A majority of the Palestinians think that Hamas is more deserving of representing and leading the Palestinian people, while a small percentage thinks Fatah is the one that deserves to do that.

Conducted by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, the poll showed that 77 percent of Palestinians believe that Hamas has come out a winner in its last war with Israel.

Moreover, 65 percent think that Hamas has achieved its declared goal behind firing rockets at Israel: to stop the eviction of a number of Arab families from the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and to bring an end to Israeli “restrictions” on Muslim access to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the Temple Mount, the poll showed.