A new poll has found that nearly 80% of Palestinians want President Mahmoud Abbas to resign, in sentiments which highlight widespread anger over the death of an activist in security forces’ custody and a crackdown on protests over the summer.
The survey released Tuesday found support for Abbas’ Hamas rivals remained high months after the 11-day Gaza war in May, when the Islamic militant group was widely seen by Palestinians as having scored a victory against a far more powerful Israel while the Western-backed Abbas was sidelined.
The latest poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that 45% of Palestinians believe Hamas should lead and represent them, while only 19% said Abbas’ secular Fatah deserved that role, showing only a slight shift in favor of Fatah over the last three months.
Despite his falling popularity and refusal to hold elections, the international community still views the 85-year-old Abbas as the leader of the Palestinian cause and a crucial partner in the peace process with Israel.
His Palestinian Authority administers parts of the occupied West Bank under interim agreements signed with Israel at the height of the peace process in the 1990s.
Hamas drove Abbas’ forces out of Gaza when it seized power there in 2007, a year after winning parliamentary elections.
Abbas’ latest woes began in April, when he called off the first Palestinian elections in 15 years as Fatah appeared to be headed for another embarrassing loss.
Hamas’ popularity soared the following month amid protests in Jerusalem and the Gaza war, as many Palestinians accused the PA of doing nothing to aid their struggle against Israeli occupation.
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