What do Palestinians really think?

Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, August 27, 2007
"Palestinian poll finds support for Fatah government over Hamas."
That headline from the International Herald Tribune, one of many
similar ones last week, must have warmed the hearts of supporters of
the illegal, unelected and Israeli-backed Ramallah "government" of
Salam Fayyad. Last June Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud
Abbas dismissed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and the
national unity government he headed, and appointed Fayyad without
the legally required endorsement of the Palestinian legislative
council. This followed Hamas' rout of the US and Israeli-backed
militias of Fatah warlord Mohammed Dahlan in the Gaza Strip.

Does this poll vindicate the US and Israeli strategy of funding and
arming Palestinian collaborator leaders in Ramallah, and Abbas'
strategy of embracing Israel, cracking down on the resistance,
colluding in a cruel siege on his people in Gaza, and refusing all
dialogue with Hamas? A closer look at the poll results as well as
the context suggests the opposite.