Palestinian Poll About October 7 Massacre

A Palestinian poll about the October 7 Hamas massacre was conducted by the Arab World For Research and Development. It shows Palestinians overwhelming supporting the attack as a war to end the Jewish State and control of the Temple Mount.

Palestinian Arabs think that a Palestinian State covering all of the pre-1948 borders – which will end the Jewish State – is much closer to reality.

A total of 79.5% of Palestinians have become more committed to the dream of taking over Israel after the October 7 attack, while 71.1% have become more committed to that as the final solution to the conflict.

This is a continuation of Palestinian conviction that existed before October 7. In a June 2023 PCPSR poll, a slim majority of 51% believed that Arabs will be “able in the future to regain Palestine and repatriate the refugees.” A December 2022 PCPSR poll noted that “the Palestinian public becomes more hardline while indicating a greater confidence in the efficacy of armed struggle.”

That growing conviction of retaking all of historical Palestine via violence has made Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank very supportive of Hamas and its attack on Israel.

An estimated 59.3% and 15.7% extremely support or somewhat support the Hamas attack, respectively, or 75.0% in total. The percentage was higher in the West Bank (83.1%) than in Gaza (63.6%), as Gaza has been bearing the brunt of Israel’s response to the October 7 attack.

Hamas – and other Palestinian terrorist groups – popularity has skyrocketed, with 48.2% and 27.8% having very positive or somewhat positive views of Hamas, respectively. Once again, the popularity of Hamas in the West Bank (87.7%) was much higher than in Gaza (59.6%).

Other Palestinian terrorist groups had similar scores. Islamic Jihad support stood at 84.2%, al Aqsa Brigade at 79.8% and al Qassam at 88.6%. Non-Palestinian terrorist groups like Hizbollah also were viewed favorably but much less so at 45.1%.

The parties who have not participated in attacking Israel have limited support among Palestinians. The Palestinian Authority itself stood at 10.3% support, while the Fatah party was at 23.2%. Iran (33.6%) and Turkey (33.9%) were significantly higher with vocal support than were Egypt (14.0%) and Jordan (12.1%), Saudi Arabia (2.9%) and UAE (2.5%). Russia (39.5%) and China (34.4%) scored much higher than countries normalizing relations with Israel. The United Nations was at 9.1%, while the United States was 0.4%

While Palestinian Arabs seem to have greater conviction in the possibility of liberating all of historic Palestine and supporting the fighters who are working to make that a reality, the “Free Palestine” opinion came in second at 29% in polling regarding the reasons for the Hamas attack. The leading belief was to stop the “violation” of the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem (35% of respondents). That may be because Hamas named the fight the ‘Al Aqsa Flood.’ Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have been falsely claiming for months that Jews are “storming al Aqsa” in “provocations” by simply walking around the compound during normal visiting hours.

Very few Palestinians place Iranian motivation and freeing Palestinian prisoners as the primary reason for the attack. Palestinian Arabs view this fight as an organic Palestinian movement to control Israel. While there is an appreciation for the support of Iran, Hizbollah in Lebanon, Russia and China, it is Palestinians who are leading the charge. The motivation is less about Palestinian people (in jail or otherwise) or for lands under Palestinian control (like ending the blockade of Gaza). This is a Palestinian war for Jerusalem and pre-1948 Palestine for two-thirds of respondents.

This can be seen in the support for various solutions to end the conflict. The vast majority of Palestinians want a Jew-free state “from the river to the sea.” Only 17% prefer a two state solution while 5% prefer a binational state for Arabs and Jews.

Palestinians do not think this is a narrow war between Israel and Hamas (18.6%) but between Israel and Palestinians generally (63.6%). Almost no one thinks this is a broader regional conflict with 5.2% believing this is Israel against the Muslim world and 2.1% thinking it is Israel against the Arab world. Their confidence in coexistence with Israeli Jews has declined by 89.5% since the attack.

Yet, while Palestinians think this is an Israeli-Palestinian war, they believe the western world hates Muslims, Islam and Arabs, even more than liking Israel or having sympathy for Israeli civilians.

They arrive at this conclusion from watching Arab channels such as Al Jazeera, Palestine TV, Maa’an TV and al Aqsa TV. Very few watch international news, and if they do, it is CNN and the BBC. Social media is huge, with Telegram and Facebook leading as the method of getting news.

Almost every single person polled – 98.0% – said that they felt tremendous pride at being a Palestinian right now. An estimated 72.6% believe that Palestinians will beat Israel in this war, with 75.3% believing the blockade of Gaza will end and 79.4% believing that Palestinians will be freed from Israeli jails.

In the end, Palestinians are still hopeful to have a national unity government with both Hamas and Fatah ruling Gaza. They appreciate the global community’s support for the October 7 attacks and are against countries and groups that call Hamas a terrorist organization which must be eliminated.

Palestinian Arabs believe that the armed struggle to destroy the Jewish State has begun in earnest and are embracing countries and groups that support its aims including Iran, Turkey, Russia and China, and American groups like the Democratic Socialists of America and Students for Justice in Palestine. The barbarity of the massacre is a side note for them as is the fate of the 240 hostages. The war to “free Palestine from the River to the Sea” may take years or decades, but the alliances are coalescing now.