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Palestinian opinions on governance, institutions, political leaders and public services (2005-2011)

The people of Palestine support their leaders, but are far from satisfied with the circumstances in which they live: they are concerned about human rights and the level of corruption in the Palestine state, and they do not harbour much trust in the courts or other public institutions. Yet, they are relatively satisfied with the public services they receive.

These are among the findings of a poll conducted by Fafo in the Palestine areas this year. Fafo has conducted such polls on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for six years, and as the polls not only have been repeated over time and therefore contain much valuable information, but also are based on solid statistical methods, they offer a unique opportunity to understand Palestinian views concerning their own leaders and institutions as well as the international system that affects them.

Based on this series of seven polls from the period between 2005 and 2011, Fafo has launched two reports. One report is concerned withPalestinians’ views on government, institutions and political leaders, the other about their views of public services.

The reports find that Palestinian leaders enjoyed moderate and relatively stable levels of popular confidence during the whole period. Yet since 2007, West Bankers have gradually expressed more confidence in West Bank Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and less trust in the government of Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh, whereas the perception of the two governments in the Gaza population, while fluctuating somewhat, has been stable. The UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) is a much trusted institution.

In people’s opinion, freedom of expression is lacking and the populations of the West Bank and Gaza Strip are generally fearful about criticizing their respective authorities. Palestinians consider that corruption is wide spread and a majority holds democracy to be poor or very poor. Overall, the perceptions of Gazans are more negative than those of West Bankers.
Despite these problems, since the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority considerable progress has been made in providing the population of the West Bank and Gaza Strip with public services. Fafo’s report documents that Palestinians generally receive all major public services and that they are relatively satisfied with the quality of the provision. However, there are considerable differences between the West Bank and Gaza. The years 2005 to 2008 saw a largely positive trend in the level of satisfaction with public services among West Bankers, while people in the Gaza Strip in the same period grew increasingly dissatisfied. Three years later, the gap in satisfaction with services has narrowed, in part because the level of satisfaction for some services has fallen slightly in the West Bank (sanitation, primary health care), and in part because a higher share of people in Gaza express satisfaction with certain public services than three years before (schools, primary health care, transportation). Two particular challenges in Gaza are electricity and water.

Two major developments are a steady reduction in the appreciation of the performance of President Abbas, and the increased appreciation of the achievements of the government of Prime Minister Fayyad. A narrow majority acknowledged the positive impact of the ‘Fayyad plan’ on people’s living conditions and the chance of reaching Palestinian statehood. The Palestinian National Authority’s security services have enjoyed improved standing over the past four years.

About the surveys
The surveys were implemented by Fafo in the years 2005-2011. The surveys’ objective was partly to map socio-economic conditions and partly to examine peoples’ perceptions of political issues and their party preferences. One individual was randomly selected in each household, which was also randomly selected to be representative of the entire population in the Palestinian Territories. The interviews were conducted face-to-face with each person, in the vast majority of cases in the person’s home. The response rate was generally high (90 percent and more).