Poll finds huge support for broad Palestinian coalition

A full 87.7 percent of respondents supported the formation of a broad coalition embracing all factions represented in parliament following Hamas's upset election win in January, the poll by Nablus's An-Najar University found.

Nearly 75 percent said they opposed Hamas using its comfortable

majority in parliament to form a government on its own.

But there was far less support for international demands backed by Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas that Hamas recognise Israel and past agreements signed with the Jewish state before being allowed to take the premiership.

Just over half of respondents -- 54.7 percent -- backed recognition of the Jewish state by Hamas but only if Israel first agreed to withdraw from all the territories it occupied in 1967, something that no Israeli government has yet expressed readiness to do.

Just over a third of respondents said they thought Hamas should join the Palestine Liberation Organization -- which has accepted a two-state solution -- so it could be "relieved from a direct recognition" of its own.

And 34.8 percent said they did not believe a Hamas-led government should be required to commit itself to all international agreements entered into by the PLO.

There was overwhelming consensus on the priorities for the new government. Nearly 83 percent said the number one objective was the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, while 81.4 percent said the most important task was imposing law and order in the Palestinian territories.

The poll found expectations of the new government running high, with 78 percent believing it could tackle endemic corruption and 65.5 percent believing it could improve the economy.

But it found little evidence of fears for human rights or religious freedoms after Hamas's shock win in the January 25 election.

Nearly 72 percent said they believed the incoming government would respect human rights, while 68 percent said it would respect press freedom.

Just 17.4 percent voiced fears that they would not be able to criticize the policies of the new government openly.

The opinion poll was conducted by An-Najar's Centre for Opinion Polls and Survey Studies between March 9 and 11 among a representative sample of 1,361 electors in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The pollsters gave a margin of error of three percent.

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