Poll: 62 percent of Palestinians say suicide bombing is justified

NEW YORK—A new Pew Research Survey has shown that a large majority —62 percent—of Palestinians justify the use of suicide terrorism. In the words of the Pew Survey, “in some countries, substantial minorities of Muslims say attacks on civilians are at least sometimes justified to defend Islam from its enemies; in the Palestinian territories, a majority of Muslims hold this view.” Among Palestinians, 37 percent said suicide bombing was often justified and 25 percent said it was sometimes justified. Only 16 percent of Palestinians said that suicide bombing is never justified (‘Muslim Publics Share Concerns about Extremist Groups,’ Pew Research Survey, Sept. 10).

This chilling finding replicates results in numerous other surveys in recent years showing strong Palestinian support for terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians:

October 2010: A Palestinian Survey (PSR) Research Unit poll (no. 37) found that 49 percent of Palestinians support suicide bombing attacks upon Israelis, while a virtually equal number (49.2 percent) oppose such attacks. 14 percent of Palestinians strongly favored such acts of terrorism, while 6 percent of Palestinians strongly opposed them (PSR Research Unit, ‘Palestinian Public Opinion Poll No (37),’ Oct. 24, 2010).

October 2010: A Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research poll conducted Sept. 30 to Oct, 2 found that 51 percent of Palestinians supported the murderous Aug. 31 terror attacks by Hamas which killed four Israeli civilians near the Bani Nayim junction, with only 44 percent of Palestinians opposed. An overwhelming majority of 76 percent of Palestinians opposed a PA crackdown on Hamas that followed the attack, whereas only 20 percent expressed support (Chana Ya’ar, ‘Poll: Most PA Arabs Back Recent Murder of Israeli Civilians,’ Israel National News, Oct. 5, 2010).

March 2009: A new joint Israeli-Palestinian poll has shown that a clear majority of Palestinians—54 percent—support terror attacks upon Israelis inside Israel, as opposed to only 42 percent who oppose such attacks. The poll, jointly conducted by the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) in Ramallah, between March 1-7, 2009. (Press Release, ‘Joint Israeli-Palestinian Poll, March 2009,’ Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, March 15, 2009).

March 2008: 83.5 percent of Palestinians approve of the March 6 terrorist attack on the Mercaz Harav seminary in Jerusalem in which eight people, mainly teenagers, were murdered and a further 40 wounded; 63.6 percent support rocket attacks on Israeli towns, as against 32.6 percent who oppose it. (Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research poll, March 2008).

September 2006: 57 percent of Palestinian Arabs support terrorist attacks upon Israeli civilians; 75 percent support the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers in a bid to obtain the release of jailed Palestinians terrorists; 63 percent are inspired by the Lebanese Islamist terror group Hizballah and seek to emulate it (Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) poll, September 2006).

September 2006: 61.3 percent of Palestinian Arabs support terrorist attacks upon Israeli civilians; 52.5 percent support rocket attacks upon Israeli population centers (Center for Opinion Polls and Survey Studies at An-Najah University, Sept. 7-9, 2006).

June 2006: 56 percent of Palestinians support terrorist attacks upon Israeli civilians (Palestinian Center for Policy & Survey Research (PCPSR) poll, June 2006).

February 2006: 56.2 percent support terrorism against Israeli civilians (Jerusalem Media and Communications Center (JMCC) poll, Feb. 8-12, 2006).

December 2005: 69 percent of Palestinians see terrorism as legitimate; 65 percent support Al-Qaeda actions in the U.S. and Europe (Fafo poll, Dec. 22, 2005).

October 2005: 60 percent of Palestinian Arabs oppose the PA disarming the terrorist groups Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (Bir Zeit University poll, October 2005).

April 2003: 75.6 percent of Palestinian Arabs support terrorism against Israeli civilians (Jerusalem Media and Communications Center (JMCC) poll, April 2003).

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “This poll, tragically, merely confirms the results of innumerable earlier polls, some of which we have cited above, showing Palestinians to approve of terrorism that targets innocent Jewish men, women and children and rejecting peace or co-existence with Israel as a Jewish state.

“These findings, like those of dozens of other polls showing Palestinian attitudes towards Israel, negotiations and violence, simply underscore the fact that concessions to Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority (PA), especially concessions leading to Palestinian statehood, would only help to produce the world’s newest terrorist state.

“It would be folly for either Israel or the United States to support the establishment of a Palestinian state under such conditions and it noteworthy that the former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon, former CIA director R. James Woolsey and pre-eminent Middle East historian Bernard Lewis have all come out in opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state under present conditions.”