PALESTINIANS Poll warned U.S. of Hamas clout-Contradicts Bush Statements

[kpete]

Posted on Sat, Mar. 04, 2006

PALESTINIANSPoll warned U.S. of Hamas clout
A State Department poll contradicts the Bush administration's assertion that it had no sign militant Islamists would win the Palestinian election.

BY JONATHAN S. [e-mail]

- A poll conducted for the State Department days before January's Palestinian elections warned policymakers that the militant Islamic group Hamas was in a position to win.

Nevertheless, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said after the election that her department had no advance indication of a major Hamas triumph.

The poll found that Hamas had been gaining support in previous months and was running neck-and-neck with the secular Fatah party -- 30 percent vs. 32 percent -- among likely voters. It was distributed within the State Department on Jan. 19, six days before the elections.

The poll found that corruption in the Palestinian Authority was the leading issue among Palestinians, and that 52 percent believed that Hamas was more qualified to clean it up, compared with 35 percent who put their faith in Fatah, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' moderate faction.

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