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Media Silent on Shocking Palestinian Public Opinion Survey
A boy holds a placard as Palestinian Hamas supporters attend a rally against visits by Israelis to the Al-Aqsa mosque, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, May 26, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
On March 20, 2024, the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research published the results of its quarterly survey on the sentiments within Palestinian society regarding Israel, the ongoing war in Gaza, internal Palestinian politics, and the international community.
With much of the media’s attention turned to Gaza and the West Bank, and with Western leaders hoping to restart negotiations for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, one would think that the results of this survey would have been covered by all the mainstream media organizations.
However, with limited exceptions, practically no mainstream news outlet outside of Israel even reported on this survey’s findings and those that did cover it (Newsweek, The New Yorker, NBC News, and USA Today) only reported on certain results while ignoring others.
New poll from PCPSR regarding Palestinian opinion in the West Bank and Gaza.
PCPSR is a reputable source for Palestinian public opinion according to most experts.
This thread will highlight the shocking resultshttps://t.co/t4VkezMidp
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) March 20, 2024
In its report on the survey’s findings, NBC News highlighted the fact that support for Hamas has dropped among both Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. NBC also reported that, among Gazans, support for “armed armed struggle” has dropped while support for a two-state solution has risen.
The New Yorker similarly noted the seemingly promising results concerning the lower support for “armed struggle,” and the rise in support for a two-state solution among Gazans.
However, there are several flies in the ointment.
For example, while support for Hamas has fallen within Palestinian society, it is still the organization with the most support among Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank, and its support in the West Bank is still 20% higher than it was in September 2023 (before the October 7 attack and subsequent Israeli war against Hamas).
Furthermore, in response to a question about who Palestinians would vote for if another election was held today, Hamas still enjoys the most support among the Palestinian electorate, and it continues to poll higher today than it did in September 2023 (30% in March 2024 versus 21% in September).
Overall, Palestinians want Hamas back in power in Gaza, by a strong majority. pic.twitter.com/QGdQCOA5pz
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) March 20, 2024
Similarly, while it is true that support for “armed struggle” has fallen among those surveyed, it is still supported by the largest percentage of respondents — and in the West Bank, it is supported by the majority.
As both NBC News and the New Yorker noted, support for a two-state solution has risen among Palestinian respondents in Gaza.
However, in the West Bank (which would likely also be part of a two-state solution), support for a two-state solution hovered around little more than 30%.
Even in Gaza, where support for a two-state solution has risen to 62%, 52% of respondents opposed the restarting of negotiations for a two-state solution.
Other noteworthy results from this survey include:
The number of respondents who support Hamas’ launching of the October 7 attacks rose 14% in Gaza compared to December 2023, but dropped 11 percentage points to 71% in the West Bank.
The vast majority of respondents believe that Hamas did not commit atrocities during the October 7 attack. Among those who have watched videos from the attack, 81% believe that Hamas did not commit atrocities, while among those who did not watch these videos, the number rises to 97%.
Among Gazan respondents, the vast majority (70%) reported that aid distribution in the war-torn territory was discriminatory. Broken down, 90% said that aid distributed by local Palestinian groups was given out in a discriminatory fashion, while 70% said the same for aid given out by UNRWA.
The percentage of Palestinians who blame Hamas for the current suffering in Gaza dropped from 11% to 7% between December 2023 and March 2024. Among Gazans, the number of people who blame Hamas for their suffering dropped from 19% to 9% during this time period.
In both Gaza and the West Bank, the vast majority are still satisfied with the way Hamas and Yahya Sinwar have performed during the current war. While satisfaction with Hamas’ performance dropped to 75% in the West Bank, satisfaction with Hamas among Gazans actually rose 10 points to 62% since December 2023.
By either disregarding the entire survey or only focusing on a select few results, the media appears to be intent on continuing to spread the narrative that a two-state solution is tenable in the near future (and that a failure to reach one will fall largely at the feet of Israel’s right-wing government), that Hamas does not represent the Palestinians, and that UNRWA is a legitimate provider of aid in Gaza.
By choosing to continue with its simplistic image of Palestinian society by largely ignoring the uncomfortable results found in this survey, the media has not only failed to provide its audience with a complete picture of the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, it is also helping to construct a false paradigm through which foreign policymakers and domestic electorates will view the current conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Media Silent on Shocking Palestinian Public Opinion Survey first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – Iran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.
Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.
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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group
People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.
Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.
In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – Iranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.
The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.
In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.
“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.