Israel's 23-day war on Hamas actually bolstered support for the Islamist group, according to a new poll by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Centre (JMCC).
Far from weakening the organisation, researchers found that the bloody aerial assaults had a consolidating effect on the movement - boosting its popularity in both the West Bank and Gaza.
The findings will come as a blow to the Jewish State, which stopped short of attempting to dismantle Hamas, but set clear military objectives of decapitating its leadership and halting its rocket attacks.
Pollsters surveyed 1,198 people in the Palestinian territories in an effort to gauge public support for the radical militant group.
They discovered that, if elections were held tomorrow, 28.6 per cent of voters would back Hamas, compared with just 27.9 per cent who would rally behind Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction.
That marks one of the few times that the fundamentalist organisation - whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel - has edged in front of Fatah in national polls. Last April, its popularity stood at just 19.3 per cent.
Even more worryingly, the study found that support for Hamas' provocative rocket attacks has actually risen, in spite of the growing acceptance that they are likely to goad harsh Israeli responses.
A majority of Palestinians - 50.8 per cent - now say their national aspirations are served by the firing of home-made rockets at Israeli towns. That compares with 39.3 per cent last April, and comes as the numbers regarding them as damaging fell from 35.7 per cent to just 20.8 per cent.
Support for suicide bomb attacks also rose after the 23-day war, as did opposition to peace negotiations with the Jewish State.
But in a sign that the shifting sentiment is more ideological than pragmatic, the results showed that endorsement of Hamas and its tactics was strongest in the West Bank, which was spared the bloodshed endured by Gaza.
The JMCC report will make sombre reading for the hawkish architects of Israel's 23-day war, who had assured voters that an iron fist was the only way of forcing Palestinian militants to halt their rocket attacks.
Since both sides announced a unilateral ceasefire on January 18, dozens of crude missiles have been fired at Israeli towns. Most are mortar and Qassam attacks, which require little expertise to mount.
The depressing study also comes to a backdrop of growing international condemnation of both sides of the Middle East conflict.
Israel's government confirmed this morning that it had detained a Lebanese aid ship bound for Gaza, while reports emerged yesterday of Hamas militants seizing UN food aid packages intended for civilians.
Photograph © Sue R B
you are number one
Posted by: haber | February 05, 2009 at 02:32 PM
why aren't they (both) smart enough to just nuke themselves. it would work in the movies.
Posted by: unfortunate names | February 06, 2009 at 03:49 AM
Not sure there is a chance of permanent peace in such issues... So Israelis think bombing is the only way to have temporary peace and Israelis don't really have much option.
Posted by: rakesh | February 06, 2009 at 01:53 PM
I meant Palestininans don't have much choice.
Posted by: rakesh | February 06, 2009 at 01:54 PM
Martin, I do not necessarily disagree with your post but there seems to be other information that suggests Hamas may have lost support.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1233304721441&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Posted by: Casey BrownMyers | February 09, 2009 at 03:58 AM
All I know is that Israel's heavy handed response has made me lose respect for Israel. They are playing right into the hands of Hamas.
Posted by: Jonathan Bert | February 09, 2009 at 06:55 PM
All I can say is ... CEASE FIRE! Please let's do away with war and live in peace.
Posted by: Cadence | February 09, 2009 at 07:18 PM
Thanks for highlighting this Casey. Ha'aretz also picked up on your PCPO study, so it looks like both the left & the right in Israel view it as a credible report. Which admittedly raises questions about the JMCC one I cited (not least of all given that the only major news source to cover it was Xinhau).
I guess the moral is: don't believe what you hear in polls. Oh, and never trust second-rate blogs like riverScrap :P
Posted by: Martin (riverScrap.com) | February 10, 2009 at 01:57 AM
And what sane person would disagree with that sentiment. Nicely put Cadence.
Posted by: Martin (riverScrap.com) | February 10, 2009 at 02:08 AM