Over 40% of West Bank Palestinians support violent 'resistance' to establish statehood - poll

Nearly 40% of Palestinians based in the West Bank and east Jerusalem believe that the war against Hamas is serving Palestinian national interests, according to a survey conducted by the Jerusalem Media and Communication Center in coordination with in cooperation with Friedrich Ebert-Stiftung.

The survey collected data from 715 Palestinian adults living in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, with a margin of error of +3%. The data was sourced between May 22 and May 25, 2024.

Despite nearly 40% agreeing that the war is helping Palestinian interests, 30.2% said it harmed them.  

The majority of respondents (41.4%) believed that the war would end in favor of Hamas, with only 6.9% expressing the war would end in results favoring Israel. Some 42.6% said it would end with results benefiting both or neither party.

Over half (52.5%) said they expected Hamas to maintain control over the Gaza Strip once the war concluded. A further 17.3% thought Gaza would fall to international administration, 14% to the Palestinian Authority and 6.6% to Israel.

Despite over 40% stating that Hamas would end up in a better position once the war has concluded, 38.5% of respondents felt that normalization between Israel and Arab countries would advance. Only 26% felt the war was a setback in international relations and 29.8% said it wouldn’t impact regional relations with Israel.

While Hamas’s use of civilian populations and infrastructures as human shields has been well-recorded throughout the war and before October 7, 55.1% of respondents thought Hamas would be more popular amongst Palestinians once the war has finished. Only 13.1% predicted a decline in support for the terrorist group. Over a quarter (27.3%) said that Hamas’s popularity was unchanged. 

Only slightly more respondents said they supported peaceful political action to establish a political state (44.5%) over violent military resistance (40.8%). A further 14.7% declined to answer.

The Palestinian respondents were fairly evenly split on their ideal resolution to the conflict, with 30.1% calling for Israel to be eradicated in favor of a singular Palestinian state and 32% answering that the preferred solution to the conflict was a two-state system. A quarter said the ideal solution would be a bi-national state.

Palestinian political arena

When it came to trusting Palestinian political figures, an overwhelming majority (65.7%) said they did not trust anyone. Marwan Al- Barghouthi was named as the most trustworthy political figure, with 7.1% expressing faith in him. Only 2.7% trust Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

Similarly, 65.5% of respondents answered they did not trust a single Palestinian political faction. The most trustworthy, according to 14.4% of respondents, was Hamas. Only 10.6% said they trusted Fatah.