The Palestinian Political Pulse
PRESS RELEASE

. In comparison with NEC's January poll, trust in Hamas has increased from
41% to 44%, while trust in Fateh has decreased from 38% to 29%.

. Over the past month, support for a peace agreement with Israel has
dropped from 84% to 73%. (80% among those trusting Fateh compared to
66% among those trusting Hamas)

. 81% believe that international support to the humanitarian conditions of
Palestinians is needed (47% highly needed, 34% needed)

..Over the past month, support for Fateh joining a National Unity government
has increased from 72% to 84%.

..30% believe that combating corruption is the most important priority for
the
Hamas-led government, 22% believe that it is improving internal security,
while 19% believe that it is to solve the unemployment and poverty
problem. In comparison with last month's poll, fighting corruption has lost
importance as a priority, while improving internal security and finding a
solution to unemployment and poverty have gained importance.

..Over the past month, the belief that Hamas should change its position on
the elimination of the state of Israel has decreased from 75% to 62%. (68%
among those supporting a peace agreement and 46% among those
opposing a peace agreement)

..69% believe that a Hamas-led government will be able to compensate for a
potential halt in assistance by the EU and the US with assistance from
other sources such as Iran.

..Even in case of a potential halt in EU and US assistance to the PA, 49%
believe that the new Hamas-led government will be more effective than the
previous government, 16% said that it will be as effective as the previous
government, while 35% said that it will be less effective than the previous
government.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Please contact Jamil Rabah
NEC,
HSBC Building, 3rd floor
RAMALLAH
02-2961436
fax: 02-2963114
The results will be available in detail and with cross-tabulations by
Tuesday 28th
of February 2006 at 17:00 hours on the following site:
www.neareastconsulting.com

The Palestinian Political Pulse

Methodology

During the period 24-26 February, 2006, Near East Consulting (NEC) conducted
a
phone survey of over 1,200 randomly selected Palestinians in the West Bank,
the Gaza
Strip, and Jerusalem of which 709 were successfully completed. The survey
covered a
number of issues related to factional trust, support for the peace process,
level of
support for a National Unity government, need for international support, and
the
perceived priorities of a new government controlled by Hamas. It is worth
noting that

60% of households in the Palestinian territories have phone connectivity.
Previous
surveys conducted by the researchers at NEC do not show much difference in
the
political attitudes between households who own phone lines and those who do
not.
Finally, the margin of error is +/- 3.6% with a 95% confidence level.

Factional trust

When asked which faction they trust most, 44% of those surveyed said Hamas,
29%
said Fateh, while 19% do not trust any faction. As overviewed in the figure
below, in the
past month, trust in Hamas has slightly increased (+3%), trust in Fateh has
significantly
decreased (-9%), while the percentage of Palestinians who do not trust any
faction has
also increased by 6%.

Factional trust
27-29 January 2006
Fateh 38% Hamas 41% PFLP 3% Others 4% I do not trust any 13%
24-26 February 2006
Fateh 29% Hamas 44% PFLP 2% Others 6% I do not trust any 19%

In general, 29% of the respondents feel more secure since the January PLC
elections,
27% feel less secure, while the feeling of security for 44% of respondents
remained the
same since the elections. In comparison with the results to the same
question asked
immediately after the parliamentary elections in January 2006, the
percentage of
respondents stating that they feel more secure (-9%) has decreased more than
the
percentage of respondents who feel less secure (-4%) since the elections,
while the
percentage who do not feel any different since the elections in terms of
security has
increased by 13% in the past month.

Feeling of security after the elections
27-29 January 2006
Feel more secure 38% Feel less secure 31% Feel the same 31%
24-26 February 2006
Feel more secure 29% Feel less secure 27% Feel the same 44%

Palestinians' feeling of security varies considerably depending on which
faction they trust
most. For example, whereas 51% of those who most trust Hamas feel more
secure
since the PLC elections, only 10% of the ones who most trust Fateh and 16%
of those
who do not trust any faction feel more secure since the elections. To the
opposite, of the
respondents most trusting Fateh 52% feel less secure since the elections,
while this is
the case for a mere 15% of those trusting Hamas most and 24% of those who do
not
trust any faction.

Feeling of security after elections according to factional trust

Fateh
Feel more secure 10% Feel less secure 52% Feel the same 39%
Hamas
Feel more secure 51% Feel less secure 15% Feel the same 34%
PFLP
Feel more secure 33% Feel less secure 33% Feel the same 33%
Others
Feel more secure 18% Feel less secure 33% Feel the same 49%
Do not trust any
Feel more secure 16% Feel less secure 24% Feel the same 61%

Support for the peace process
As indicated in the figure, 73% of the respondents support a peace
settlement with
Israel. Support for a peace agreement with Israel dropped by 11% in less
than a month's
time.

Level of support for a peace agreement with Israel
27-29 January 2006
Support a peace agreement 84% Oppose a peace agreement 16%
24-25 February 2006
Support a peace agreement 73% Oppose a peace agreement 27%

The support for a peace agreement with Israel is significantly higher among
those most
trusting Fateh (80%) and those not trusting any faction (80%) than among
those most
trusting Hamas (66%).

Level of support for a peace agreement with Israel according to factional
trust

Fateh
Support a peace agreement 80% Oppose a peace agreement 20%
Hamas
Support a peace agreement 66% Oppose a peace agreement 34%
PFLP
Support a peace agreement 90% Oppose a peace agreement 10%
Others
Support a peace agreement 68% Oppose a peace agreement 32%
Do not trust any
Support a peace agreement 80% Oppose a peace agreement 20%

Need for international support to the humanitarian conditions

The large majority of Palestinians believe that international support to the
humanitarian
conditions of the Palestinian people is needed. More concretely, 47% believe
that this
support is highly needed, while 34% believe that it is needed. Furthermore,
18% feel that
Palestinians can live without international support to the humanitarian
conditions, while a
mere 1% believe that such support to the Palestinian people is definitely
not needed.

Extent of the need for international support to the
humanitarian conditions of the Palestinians

Highly needed 47% Needed 34%Palestinians can live without it 18%
Definitely not needed 1%
A National Unity government

On the issue of Fateh joining a National Unity government, 84% believe that
Fateh
should do so. Since last month, Palestinians' support of Fateh joining a
National Unity
government has increased by 12%.

Support or opposition to Fateh joining a National Unity government

27-29 January 2006
I support Fateh joining 72% I oppose Fateh joining 28%

24-25 February 2006
I support Fateh joining 84% I oppose Fateh joining 16%

Still, support for Fateh joining a National Unity government remains
considerably lower
among those most trusting Fateh (71%) than among those most trusting Hamas
(90%)
and those not trusting any faction (88%).

Support or opposition to Fateh joining the National Unity government
according to factional trust

Fateh
I support Fateh joining 71% I oppose Fateh joining 29%
Hamas
I support Fateh joining 90% I oppose Fateh joining 10%
PFLP
I support Fateh joining 80% I oppose Fateh joining 20%
Others
I support Fateh joining 93% I oppose Fateh joining 7%
Do not trust any
I support Fateh joining 88% I oppose Fateh joining 12%

Perceptions on a new government under Hamas

In general, 30% of the respondents continue to believe that combating
corruption should
be the most important priority for the Hamas government. A relatively high
percentage
(22%) said that ending the chaos in security should be the most important
priority of the
Hamas government, while another 19% said that the priority should be to
solve the
unemployment and poverty problem. A mere 1% of the respondents said that it
should
be the priority of the Hamas government to implement Islamic law. Also
noteworthy is
that nearly twice as many respondents believe that the prisoner issue (11%)
should be
the new government's most important priority rather than a peace settlement
with Israel
(6%). Finally, in comparison with last month's poll, fighting corruption has
lost importance
as a priority of the new government (-5%), while improving internal security
(+7%) and
finding a solution to unemployment and poverty (+5%) have gained importance.

The most important priority of the Hamas government should be...

27-29 January 2006
Fighting Corruption 35%
Peace Settlement with Israel 8%
Finding solution to unemployment and poverty 14%
Resisting the Israeli occupation 4%
Improving internal security 15%
Imposing religious standards 2%
Issue of refugees 5%
Separation wall 2%
Prisoners 13%
Others 3%

24-26 February 2006
Fighting Corruption 30%
Peace Settlement with Israel 6%
Finding solution to unemployment and poverty 19%
Resisting the Israeli occupation 2%
Improving internal security 22%
Imposing religious standards 1%
Issue of refugees 2%
Separation wall 2%
Prisoners 11%
Others 7%

In general, a minority of 38% of the respondents believe that Hamas should
maintain its
position on the elimination of the state of Israel. However, in comparison
to the results
on the same question in the NEC January poll, the belief that Hamas should
maintain its
position on the elimination of the state of Israel has become more
widespread (+13%).

Should Hamas maintain its position on the elimination of the state of
Israel?
27-29 January 2006
Yes 25% No 75%
24-25 February 2006
Yes 38% No 62%

Moreover, a higher percentage of respondents who oppose a peace agreement
with
Israel (54%) than those who support a peace agreement with Israel (32%)
believe that
Hamas should maintain its position on the elimination of Israel. In
comparison with last
month's poll, it is important to mention that the percentage of respondents
opposed to a
peace agreement who believe that Hamas should keep its position on the
elimination of
the state of Israel has practically remained the same (-1%), while the
percentage of
respondents supporting a peace agreement who believe that Hamas should
maintain its
position has increased considerably by 14%.

Should Hamas maintain its position on the elimination of the state of
Israel? according to level of support for a peace agreement with Israel
Support a peace agreement
Yes 32% No 68%
Oppose a peace agreement
Yes 54%No 46%

Interviewees were also queried about the ability of a Hamas-led government
to
compensate for the losses from a potential halt in assistance by the EU and
the US with
assistance from other sources such as Iran. A significant majority of 69%
believe that a

Hamas-led government will be able to compensate for this potential halt in
assistance
with assistance from other sources.

Will a Hamas-led government be able to compensate for the losses from a halt
in assistance by the US and the EU with assistance from other sources such
as Iran? Yes 69% No 31%

As for the effectiveness of a Hamas-led government in comparison with that
of the
previous government in case the US and the EU halt assistance to the PA as
long as
Hamas does not change its stance on the elimination of the state of Israel,
49% believe
that the new government will be more effective than the previous one, 35%
think that it
will be as effective as the previous one, while 35% feel that it will be
less effective than
the previous one.

How effective will a Hamas-led government be given the position of the US
and the EU to halt assistance to the PA as long as Hamas does not change its
stance regarding the elimination of the state of Israel?
49% More effective than the previous government
16% As effective as the previous government
35% Less effective than the previous government