Palestinians "discontented" about "bad" economic state
A survey revealed that more than a third of the population of the territories are thinking about going elsewhere to find work. The majority would vote for Hamas again but less than 3% would go for jihad.
Jerusalem (AsiaNews) The large majority of Palestinians (57.7%) think the current economic conditions of residents of the territories are "bad". Further, 58.8% are "discontented" with their quality of life, so much so that one-third (33.9%) of the population has considered leaving to find work, largely convinced (61.7%) that the government is incapable of supplying employment opportunities. Still more (85.3%) maintain its wellbeing depends in varying degrees on aid from Europe and the United States. These views were published today, just as the Quartet (the UN, United States, EU and Russia) accepted a project presented by Europe for a temporary mechanism to supply aid to the Palestinians, bypassing the Hamas government. They are the results, sent to AsiaNews, of a survey on Palestinians' economic and political conditions, conducted by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion (PCPO). This is an independent centre that has studied Palestinian public opinion since 1994; it is run by Nabil Kukali, a Christian who is a also a lecturer at Hebron University in the West Bank.
Although they are convinced that the current government does not have an economic programme to tackle the crisis (53.6% against 40.7%), Palestinians would still opt for Hamas (38.3%) over Fatah (31.9%) if they were to go to the polls today. Another 11.9% would vote for right-wing, nationalist groups and 2.4% would opt for the Islamic Jihad. The last statistic seems to confirm that resorting to arms is not a popular decision, a supposition echoed in the 2.6% who would advise the prime minister Haniyeh to press ahead with the jihad.
The negative judgment passed by the majority of Palestinians about the territories' economic situation (57.4% evaluate them as "bad", 34.4% describe them as "mediocre" and only 7.4% as "good") is confirmed by their own economic status. In fact, 58% of those interviewed described their own plight as "bad", 36.2% as "mediocre" and 5.8% as "good".
Moreover, 20.5% are "really discontented" with their quality of life and that of their family, while another 38.8% are "discontented", bringing negative evaluation to amount to more than 59%. Then there are 25.2% who describe their quality of life as "so so". Only 12.6% are "contented" and 3% are "very contented".
Most (49.5% against 47.1%) of those interviewed believe the current government is not qualified to improve the quality of life. Responding to a question about what they would advise the prime minister to do, most people (25%) said: "An economic programme to improve living conditions".
Employment is especially worrying for the people (32.6%) followed by "security" (30.5%), health (19.7%) and the "future" (17.2%).
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12/02/2016 15:14
02/02/2007
