Despite the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel brokered by President Trump, it appears that Palestinian society is no closer to accepting a long-term, durable peace with Israel. Recent polling results from an independent think tank surveying Palestinians in both Gaza and Judea and Samaria (called “the West Bank” by the think tank, and therefore, referenced below as such) show many indications that a desire for peace from Palestinians remains elusive.
In fact, the survey shows that West Bank Palestinians (under the so-called “moderate” rule of the Palestinian Authority, upon whom many place the perennial bad hope of a Palestinian state) are, if anything, more radicalized than their counterparts in Gaza. The survey shows the following:
A plurality of Palestinians remain committed to armed struggle against Israel. Despite the ceasefire, a plurality of Palestinians seemingly support perpetual armed struggle against Israel. When asked which of three ways they saw was the most effective way to “end the Israeli occupation and establish an independent Palestinian state,” 41 percent of all Palestinians (30 percent of Gazan Palestinians and 49 percent of West Bank Palestinians) chose “armed struggle,” while 36 percent of all Palestinians (35 percent of Gazan Palestinians and 37 percent of the West Bank Palestinians) chose negotiations, and only 19 percent of all Palestinians (29 percent of Gazan Palestinians and 13 percent of West Bank Palestinians) chose peaceful resistance. (RELATED: Will the Crazies of Gaza Beat Swords Into Ploughshares?)
The majority of Palestinians oppose disarming Hamas. Related to the above point, 69 percent of all Palestinians oppose the disarmament of Hamas when asked whether they support or oppose the disarmament of the terrorist group to permanently end the war in Gaza. This broke down to 55 percent of Palestinians in Gaza and 87 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank. (RELATED: Israel Should Annex Land in Gaza, Judea and Samaria)
The majority of Palestinians still support the October 7 attack. When asked, “In your view, was Hamas’s decision to launch its offensive against Israel on 7 October a correct or incorrect one?” a majority of Palestinians (53 percent) still believe that Hamas made the correct decision, down from 72 percent in December 2023. Despite that decrease, key to note here is that a majority of Palestinian society still supports that genocidal act against the Jews. Broken down, 44 percent of Gazans still believe that Hamas made the right decision, down from a high of 71 percent in March 2024, while a majority of West Bank Palestinians (59 percent) share this view, down from a high of 82 percent in December 2023.
The majority of Palestinians view Hamas favorably, and Hamas is the most popular political party. The survey showed that Hamas currently enjoys a 60 percent favorability rating among Palestinians overall, with 51 percent of Gaza’s Palestinians and 66 percent of West Bank Palestinians satisfied with Hamas’s performance. When asked specifically what party they support, Hamas gained the most support, with 35 percent of all Palestinians (41 percent of Gazan Palestinians and 32 percent of West Bank Palestinians). In contrast, Fatah received 24 percent of the vote of all Palestinians (29 percent of Gazan Palestinians and 32 percent of West Bank Palestinians). If new legislative elections were held today, 44 percent of all Palestinians stated they would vote for Hamas (49 percent of Gazan Palestinians and 40 percent of West Bank Palestinians), compared to 30 percent of all Palestinians for Fatah (32 percent of Gazan Palestinians and 29 percent of West Bank Palestinians). (RELATED: Surprise! Hamas Has Already Doomed Peace)
The vast majority of Palestinians do not recognize Hamas’s brutality on October 7. The whole of Palestinian society is in a state of “October 7 denial,” further hindering prospects of long-term peace with Israel. Only 10 percent of the Palestinians surveyed believed that Hamas actually committed the atrocities seen in videos circulating in international media, while an overwhelming 86 percent said Hamas did not commit those atrocities. (RELATED: It’s Good v. Evil. It’s Always Been Good v. Evil.)
This near total denial could be the result of the propaganda that the Palestinians receive, with the majority (58 percent) of Palestinians stating that they watched Qatar-based Al Jazeera the most out of all TV stations in the past two months, followed by Lebanon-based Palestine Today (3 percent), Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV (3 percent), Palestinian Authority-run Palestine TV (2 percent), Saudi Arabia-run Al-Arabiya (2 percent), Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV (2 percent), and the Palestinian channel Ma’an (1 percent).
Palestinians embrace regional and international actors that oppose peace. The Palestinians are also unlikely to embrace peace, as they favor regional and international actors that are most hostile to peace in the region. In the survey, Palestinians polled the highest satisfaction rating for the leadership of the Houthis in Yemen (at 74 percent of Palestinians overall, with 84 percent of West Bank Palestinians and 60 percent of Gaza Palestinians), suggesting that the Palestinians most want to emulate these terrorists in whatever future they choose to pursue. The next most popular regional actors amongst the Palestinians were Islamist and Hamas babysitters Qatar (at 52 percent), terrorists Hezbollah (50 percent), and the Islamic Republic of Iran (44 percent). Not listed in the survey results were the Abraham Accords partners, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, or Morocco, which may be an indication that the Palestinians don’t care much for the Abraham Accords. (RELATED: Eastern Horizons: New Alliance Architecture for Israel)
As far as international actors were concerned, the highest satisfaction rate went to China (at 34 percent) and then Russia (at 25 percent), while the United States, the country that secured the ceasefire, only received a 6 percent favorability rating.
Despite the efforts of the Trump administration to broker a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, the above-mentioned survey shows that long-term peace will remain unattainable because Palestinians continue to embrace Hamas and its forever war against Israel.
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