By Ryan Jones
Sep 12, 2005
The vast majority of Palestinian Arabs recognize that unrelenting terrorism against Jewish men, women and children is what led to Israel's unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
According to a poll cited by Ha'aretz Monday, 84 percent of ?Palestinians? see the Jews' flight from Gaza and northern Samaria as a victory for their ?armed resistance.?
Forty percent of respondents said Hamas deserves the credit for driving the Israelis out.
As Jewish civilians were being pulled from their homes in Gaza last month, Hamas announced it was behind most of the anti-Israel violence in the strip over the past five years.
Thirty percent of those polled said they will vote for Hamas in the upcoming Palestinian Legislative Council election in January, setting the blood-soaked group on the path to becoming the second largest parliamentary faction.
This despite the group's refusal to disarm, even though 62 percent of ?Palestinians? apparently feel the terror option should be shelved for now.
Hamas will still find 35 percent of the public strongly supportive of its attacks on Israeli Jews, according to the survey: A more than adequate number from which to recruit ?suicide? bombers, gunmen and artillery crews.