Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
A wartime opinion poll among Palestinians published Wednesday shows a rise in support for Hamas, including in the devastated Gaza Strip, and an overwhelming rejection of Western-backed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, with nearly 90% saying he must resign. Some 57% of respondents in Gaza and 82% in the West Bank believe Hamas was correct in launching the October attack, the poll indicated. A large majority believed Hamas' claims that it acted to defend Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem against Jewish extremists and win the release of Palestinian prisoners. Only 10% said they believed Hamas has committed war crimes, with a large majority saying they did not see videos showing the terrorists committing atrocities. Overall, 88% want Abbas to resign, up by 10 percentage points from three months ago. In the West Bank, 92% called for the resignation of the octogenarian who has presided over an administration widely seen as corrupt, autocratic and ineffective. At the same time, 44% in the West Bank said they supported Hamas, up from just 12% in September. In Gaza, Hamas enjoyed 42% support, up slightly from 38% three months ago. Washington has called for the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, currently led by Abbas, to eventually assume control of Gaza and run both territories as a precursor to statehood. U.S. officials have said the PA must be revitalized, without letting on whether this would mean leadership changes. The survey was conducted by a Palestinian pollster from Nov. 22 to Dec. 2 among 1,231 people in the West Bank and Gaza and had an error margin of 4 percentage points. In Gaza, poll workers conducted 481 in-person interviews during a weeklong cease-fire that ended Dec. 1. (Associated Press)