Near East Consulting: Surveys

The period in the two months since the January 2006 PLC elections has been marked by a debate within the international community of how to deal with the Palestinians on several issues, including assistance, given the emergence of the new reality with a Hamas majority in the PLC and a Hamas-led PA government. In an attempt to add a Palestinian voice to the debate, Near East Consulting (NEC) conducted a phone survey among over 1,200 randomly selected Palestinians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem of which 860 were successfully completed. The survey covered several issues related to the Palestinian public's perceptions about the international community, including: their trust in various members of the international community, the perceived justness of US vs. EU policies towards the Palestinian people, the international community's commitment to continue work towards a two-state solution, the "preferred" source of assistance by the Palestinians, and the institutions Palestinians believe assistance should be channeled to.

Finally, it is worth noting that the margin of error for this survey is +/- 3.3% with a 95% confidence level.