Tuesday October 20, 2009

I've Been Thinking:

Mahmoud Abbas is dropping in popularity.
The drop is consistent.
He cannot bring his numbers up.

According to this week's JMCC survey of 1200 Palestinians, if a presidential election were to be held now, Abbas would not emerge the winner.

The election would be too close to call between Abbas and the Hamas candidate, Ismael Haniyah.

In the West Bank, Abbas's numbers have toppled to 12% from 18%.

Haniyah is at 14.2%.

The change in voting preference happened since JMCC’s last survey in June.

These results are extremely telling.

The rise of Hamas' popularity in the West Bank is a damning condemnation to Fatah and Abbas' leadership.

It makes sense in Gaza where Hamas is in charge, but when the West Bank sees the oppression of Hamas in Gaza and still prefers Hamas to Fatah that signals a serious synapse.

The only way to maintain Fatah power will be through force and Abbas does not have the personal character to apply military pressure to put Hamas back in its place.

We are witnessing the self destruction of Fatah and the rise of Hamas - all under Abbas' watch.

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