Poll shows Palestinian divisions

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A poll of Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip shows 47% think the general situation in Gaza has got worse since Hamas took control in June.

1,199 Palestinians were questioned by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Centre in mid-August.

It is the first such test of Palestinian opinion since the Hamas takeover of Gaza.

However, a majority of those questioned in Gaza said their personal security had improved since then.

Forty-four per cent of Gazans said they felt safer under Hamas than they did before, compared to 32% who said the opposite.

Presidential popularity

If new elections were held tomorrow for Palestinian Authority president, the result could be close.

Twenty-one per cent said they would vote for the incumbent, Mahmoud Abbas. However, 19% would vote for the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniya, reflecting the support which brought his party to power in January 2006.

Marwan Barghouti, a Fatah leader imprisoned in Israel, was backed by 17% of those questioned.

In mid-June, Hamas took over Gaza by force, driving out the security forces run by Mr Abbas's Fatah faction. This resulted in Gaza and the West Bank being controlled by two separate Palestinian governments.

After the takeover, the Palestinian president dismissed Hamas from the unity government it formed with Fatah in February this year.

In its place Mr Abbas created a new cabinet in the West Bank headed by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

When asked to compare the performance of the Fayyad government in the West Bank with the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, 47% said Mr Fayyad's government was performing better, as against 24% who preferred Hamas.

As to how the political split should be healed: 28% said dialogue was the solution, while 26% said the answer lay in a return to the national unity Government.

Only 17% believed the solution lay in having Mr Fayyad's government take control over Gaza.