AFP/Jerusalem
Most Palestinians would favour resuming rocket fire at Israel if it does not lift its Gaza blockade, although support for armed confrontation is dropping off, according to a poll published on Monday.
"An overwhelming majority of 80% supports the launching of rockets from the Gaza Strip at Israel if the siege and blockade are not ended," said the survey of 1,200 Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Resarch (PSR).
Conducted a month after the end of Israel's 50-day Gaza military offensive to stop rocket fire, the poll says 44% of respondents saw armed confrontation as the best way to end Israeli occupation and set up a Palestinian state.
It said that 29% believed negotiations were the best option, while 23% favoured non-violent resistance.
But the poll, carried out between September 25-27 and with a margin of error of three%age points, reflected a falloff in support both for the Islamist militant movement Hamas which rules Gaza and for violence.
PSR said that in a similar survey a month earlier, in the immediate aftermath of the war, 53% backed armed confrontation.
Asked how they would vote if a general election were held now, 39% of those polled said they would support Hamas, down from 46% a month ago.
The rival Fatah of president Mahmud Abbas would win 36%, up from 31% in August, the survey found.
But in a presidential race, Hamas's Ismail Haniya would romp home with 55% support compared to 38% for Abbas.
Asked if Israel with its massive air, sea and land bombardment of Gaza had won the July-August war, or Hamas -- which fired rockets deep into Israel -- 69% handed victory to the Islamists in the latest survey, down from 79% last month.
The war killed more than 2,140 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and 73 on the Israeli side, almost all soldiers.
