Palestinians want truce: poll
2003-11-13 13:47
Jerusalem - Two thirds of Palestinians support the ceasefire with Israel, which Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei has made a priority of his newly sworn-in government, said a poll published on Thursday.
The survey carried out by the Palestinian Centre for Public Opinion said 35.4% of Palestinians "strongly support" a ceasefire, 30.6% "somewhat support" it, while 29.7% oppose it and 4.3% did not express an opinion.
The Beit Sahur-based institute revealed that more Palestinians (44.5%) favour putting an end to the intifada than those who wish to see it continued (42.6%).
An easing of the Israeli army's restrictions on the population in the West Bank also emerged as a priority among those polled, with 64.2% saying it would contribute to reducing the level of violence and 26.6% arguing the opposite.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's popularity was unwavering, according to the poll, which revealed that 58.3% of Palestinians see him as the only man capable of signing a peace agreement with Israel and 72.4% support him.
The poll was carried out on a sample of 669 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and has a margin of error of 3.8%.