Uproar over death of Hamas activist in PA prison

Several Palestinian organizations have protested the death of Hamas activist Abd aj-Jamil al-Haj in a PA prison on the West Bank. According to some claims, his death was result of torture. His family claims that he had been arrested for political reasons, and that no charges had been made against him.

The National and Islamic Forces (a broad coalition including both Hamas and PLO factions) has issued a call for forming an independent committee to investigate the circumstances of al-Haj's death. The PFLP has urged, supporting the call of the NIF, both the Hamas and Fatah movements to uphold the National Accord and Cairo Declaration. Secretaries of the Fatah movement in the West Bank has also called upon the PA to open an investigation into the matter.

On Opinion Polls

The Israeli media (such as Jerusalem Post, Haaretz) and some Hasbara bloggers has taken notice of a recent opinion poll by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion. The poll shows a sharp decline of support for Hamas after the Gaza massacre. Moreover the study shows an increase in support for Fatah in the Gaza strip.

Notably, the same Israeli media and Hasbara bloggers declined to show any major interest in the JMCC opinion poll published last week (which would almost diametrically opposite trends in shifts in support of Hamas and Fatah). It should be noted that the JMCC poll had 1,198 respondents whilst the PCPO had 673 respondents. No opinion poll is 100% accurate, but I'd say spontaneously that the JMCC poll had a far wider sample and is thus more credible. The JMCC poll also had more concrete questions, than the vague 'identification' of political parties used in the PCPO poll. In 2006, the PCPO underestimated Hamas vote level by 15%.

Palestinian Opinion Poll: Increasing support for Hamas, Haniyeh the most trusted Palestinian politician, majority now supports rocket launches

In the wake of the Gaza massacre, the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center has released an interesting opinion poll. The polls consists of 1,198 interviews with randomly selected residents in the West Bank and Gaza, and is a follow-up on earlier political opinion polls.

The poll shows that 28.6% of respondents said that they intended to vote for Hamas in Legislative Council elections (if held today), as compared to 27.9% for Fatah and 14.6% for other parties. In November 2008 a similar question had been asked, then 36.8% had said they would have voted for Fatah (40% in Gaza) and 19.5% said they would have voted for Hamas (22.5% in Gaza).

A slightly differently worded question asked which political faction had the most trust amongst the respondents. In November 2008 Fatah had led with 31.3% of the respondents having most trust in them, followed by Hamas (16.6%), Islamic Jihad (2.4%) and the PFLP (2.3%). In January 2009 Hamas has overtaken the leading position, being the most trusted party amongst 27.7% of respondents. The runner-up is Fatah (26%), followed by the PFLP (3.3%) and Islamic Jihad (2.8%). Trust for Hamas has more than doubled in the West Bank.

In November 2008 the most trusted politician was Mahmoud Abbas, having the support of 15.9% of the respondents. In January 2009, the most trusted politician is Ismail Haniyeh. Haniyeh gets the trust of 21.1% (up from 13.8% in November 2008), compared to 13.4% trusting Abbas. In both the November 2008 and January 2009 surveys, Marwan Barghouti is the third most trusted politician.

50.8% of respondents (52.8% in the West Bank, 47.3% in Gaza) said that rocket launches from Gaza into Israel helped the Palestinian cause, whilst 20.8% (16.2% in the West Bank, 28.6% in Gaza) considered them harmful. In April 2008, 39.3% (34.6% in the West Bank, 47.4% in Gaza) of respondents had stated that rocket launches from Gaza was a useful form of resistance, whilst 35.7% (38.3% in West Bank, 31.2% in Gaza) considered them futile.

89% of respondents said that they were satisfied with Turkey's role during the bombings, whilst 80% were satisfied with the role of Venezuela. 96.3% were dissatisfied with the role of the United States.

News links: 1, 2, 3, 4

PFLP condemns Hamas' "repressive practices of intimidation" in Gaza

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has issued a statement today, calling on Hamas to end its "extrajudicial repressive practices of intimidation exercised by the organs of the Hamas movement in the Gaza strip". According to the statement, Hamas has attacked the PFLP cadres, subjecting them to kidnappings, severe beatings and shootings. The statement appealed to Hamas to immediately end its repressive actions against other Palestinian factions, and that all Palestinian groups should unite against the enemy.

The statement follows a statement issued on January 26 by the PFLP military wing, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, which denounced Hamas forces for having opened fire on a group of AAMB fighters whilst they were in the process of firing a rocket against the enemy.

The PFLP has also rejected calls for exiled Hamas leader Khalid Meshal to sideline the PLO.

PFLP has condemned the policy of political arrests by the Abbas regime in the West Bank as well.

Ibrahim Abu An-Naja, a senior official of the Fatah movement, on its behalf, has sought to downplay claims of Hamas executions of Fatah militants in the Gaza strip during the bombings. An-Naja confirms that there were cases in which Fatah militants had been targetted by Hamas forces in the Gaza strip, but that number were far lower than the internationally widely circulated claims.

Links: Notice at Maan News Agency, LV