Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7 massacre, was killed by an Israeli military operation in Gaza on October 17 one year later. The mourning among West Bank Arabs was likely much greater than for Gazans.
According to the September 2024 Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) poll, Sinwar was much more popular than current head of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas. In a head-to-head competition for the presidency, Sinwar would have trounced Abbas by 74% to 24%, a 50 point margin.
The appreciation for Sinwar was much greater in the West Bank than in Gaza, with 70% of West Bank Arabs expressing satisfaction with Sinwar to 29% in Gaza. Presumably this is because the Gaza Strip has felt more of the ramifications of Sinwar’s war against Israel than those living in the West Bank, although the poll does not ask.
The poll does ask about the “best means of achieving Palestinian goals in ending the occupation and building an independent state,” which showed the majority of 56% of West Bankers still preferring violence to 36% in Gaza, a 20 point spread.
Beyond the fighting forces of the decimated military in Gaza military while the armed terrorist groups in the West Bank remaining intact, is the gap in news sources. According to the poll, by far the biggest source of news to the region came from Qatar’s Al Jazeera, and “West Bankers are more likely than Gazans to watch Aljazeera, 80% and 30%, respectively.” That’s the media company which has told Palestinian Arabs that thousands of their comrades did not commit mass rape of Israelis and burn families alive, making films whitewashing the atrocities, despite ample evidence.
The war has made Gazans turn towards negotiations with Israel, as their military has been defeated and the propaganda machine has fizzled, yet West Bank Arabs continue to prefer a war to negotiations by a two-to-one margin. It remains to be seen whether it will take a conclusive defeat and termination of Iranian and Qatari propaganda to make West Bank Arabs give up their quest to destroy Israel.
Or the Palestinian jihadists of the West Bank can continue to threaten Israel, much like Monty Python’s Black Knight:
Related articles:
Iranian Proxies In The West Bank? (October 2024)
Note To Kamala: Vast Majority Of West Bank Arabs Are Terrorist Supporters (July 2024)
This Is Actually A West Bank War (December 2023)
Israel May Have Stopped A Bigger Massacre From The West Bank (November 2023)
Palestinian Arabs Are Fighting For All of Israel, Not A New State In West Bank and Gaza (September 2023)
UNRWA’s West Bank Terrorists (July 2023)
Beheadings are Not Terrorism for Al Jazeera (October 2020)
Al Jazeera’s Lies Call for Jihad Against the Jewish State (November 2017)
{Reposted from the author’s blog}
