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Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research

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The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) (Arabic: المركز الفلسطيني للبحوث السياسية والمسحية) is a Palestinian research organisation and think tank based in Ramallah established for "advancing scholarship and knowledge on immediate issues of concern to Palestinians in three areas: domestic politics and government, strategic analysis and foreign policy, and public opinion polls and survey research".[1]

It has been conducting opinion polls in these fields since the mid-1990s.[2] In 1993, Palestinian political scientist Khalil Shikaki founded the Center for Palestine Research and Studies in Nablus, which became the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in 2000. Shikaki has consulted regularly with Israeli political scientists and has conducted joint polls with Israeli researchers, including Tel Aviv University.[3][4] The organization is non-profit and is funded mostly by the European Union and the Ford Foundation.[3]

The organization has been the object of hostility ranging from pressure from the Palestinian Authority (PA) to mob violence. In 2003, PCPSR's offices in Ramallah were ransacked by dozens of rioters after the center published poll findings showing that only 10% of Palestinian refugees would choose to live in Israel if offered the right of return.[3] Rioters marched from the PCPSR's office to Yasser Arafat's compound a few blocks away. According to Shikaki, the demonstrators wanted to send a message to PA President Mahmoud Abbas that the right of return was non-negotiable.[4] In 2015, the PA required that all Palestinian NGOs, including PCPSR, report their activities and funding to the cabinet.[3]

In 2021, PCPSR released a poll showing a surge in Palestinian support for Hamas and plummeting support for Abbas after the 2021 Israel-Palestine crisis.[5]

On 29 August 2024 the Israel Defense Forces released Hamas documents[6] that it said showed that, unbeknownst to the PCPSR, Hamas had secretly falsified its levels of public support in polls conducted by the PCPSR.[7] Rejecting the IDF claims, Shikaki said it was ‘highly unlikely’ that Hamas had falsified its results, but vowed to probe the claims.[8]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "PCPSR". www.pcpsr.org.
  2. ^ Geer, John Gray (2004). Public Opinion and Polling Around the World. ABC-CLIO. p. 660. ISBN 9781576079119.
  3. ^ a b c d Avishai, Bernard (February 3, 2018). "A Palestinian Research Center Comes Under Threat in a Government Crackdown". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  4. ^ a b Bennet, James (2003-07-14). "Palestinian mob attacks pollster". Archived from the original on 2023-11-11. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  5. ^ Krauss, Joseph. "Poll finds dramatic rise in Palestinian support for Hamas". Associated Press. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  6. ^ "Translated Documents" (PDF). The Times of Israel. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  7. ^ "Seized Hamas documents show terror group inflated its support rates, IDF says". The Times of Israel. 30 August 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  8. ^ "Rejecting IDF claims, Palestinian pollster says 'highly unlikely' Hamas falsified its results, but vows to probe". The Times of Israel. 29 August 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
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