Armed Attacks, PNA Performance, The Palestinian Legislative Council, Corruption
December 1996
Performance of the Palestinian GovernmentOverall, most respondents assessed the performances of the Legislative Council, Judicial and the Executive (including the President and his Cabinet) branches of the Palestinian Authority between a range of very good and good. The highest positive evaluation continues to be enjoyed by the Presidency, with 74.9% of all respondents believing that its performance to be 'very good' (39.5%) or 'good' (35.4%). This is a slight overall increase since December 1996, when it reached 72%, but a significant rise in the highest level of evaluation, very good, category (from 29.2% in Poll #24). The second highest evaluation was given to the Executive Cabinet, which is comprised of Ministers of the Palestinian Authority and closely affiliated with the President. 62% of all respondents rated the Cabinet as 'very good' (18.3%) or 'good' (43.7%). Lastly, the performance of the Palestinian Legislative Council received a positive evaluation of 48.9% from all respondents (indicating no change since September 1996), with only 10.6% rating it as 'very good', 38.3% as 'good' and 25% as 'fair' (see Chart 1).
Chart 1
Positive, Fair and Negative Evaluations of the Presidency, Cabinet and Legislative Council
Straddling the Presidency and Cabinet, the Palestinian police and security services obtained a high positive evaluation, as 71.1% of all respondents assessed its performance as 'very good' (28%) or 'good' (43.1%). As a basis of comparison, albeit inexact, in September 1996, 62.2% of the respondents who said that they have had direct experience with the police and security services evaluated their performance positively. This rise in support might reflect the public's approval of their performance in the September confrontations with the Israeli military.
There are some notable demographic differences between respondents in their evaluation of the performance of their government and institutions. As with many attitudinal variables, and consistency found in previous surveys, West Bank, men and higher educated Palestinians tend to be more critical than their counterparts. Table 3, Table 4 and Table 5 show the demographic breakdown by region, gender and level of education for the evaluation of the Presidency, Cabinet, Council and police and security services. (Note, for each of the tables, the categories of evaluation are collapsed into three levels: positive=very good/good, fair and negative=bad/very bad).
Table 3
Evaluation of the Government by Region, weighted percentages & counts*
Positive Fair Negative West Bank Gaza Strip W. Bank Gaza Strip W. Bank Gaza Strip Presidency 72.6 (501) 78.6 (316) 9.9 (68) 10.7 (43) 9.2 (63) 4.7 (19) Police & Security 68.4 (471) 75.4 (301) 14.4 (99) 13.4 (54) 11.5 (78) 8.1 (32) Cabinet 59.2 (407) 66.6 (267) 18.3 (125) 17.4 (70) 13.7 (94) 9.6 (39) Council 50.3 (343) 46.5 (187) 22.4 (152) 29.4 (118) 16.8 (114) 12.7 (51) * The No Opinion category is excluded from Table 3, but percentages are based on the total number of responses.
Note, for nearly every category of the variable, Palestinians from the West Bank tend to be more critical of their government than Gazans. This trend is particularly evident for positive eof the Presidency, police and security services and Cabinet. For the Council, however, there is a slight, but significant, regional difference between evaluations, as West Bankers and Gazans are nearly equally as likely to assess its performance positively or negatively. Moreover, Gazans are more likely to assess the performance of each branch of government as 'very good' than West Bankers. (For a regional breakdown, please see the attached list of questions and distribution of responses).
It is also the case that in their assessment of the government and its institutions, men tend to be much more critical than women. Table 4 shows that there is around a 10-percentage point difference between men and women in their positive evaluations of the Presidency, police & security services, Cabinet and PLC. Moreover, men are nearly twice as likely than women to give a negative evaluation to each of these branches. In the middle-range, fair, category there are no significant gender differences.
Table 4
Evaluation of the Government by Gender, weighted percentages & counts*
Positive Fair Negative Men Women Men Women Men Women Presidency 70.6 (382) 79.0 (434) 10.0 (54) 10.4 (57) 10.9 (59) 4.2 (23) Police & Security 65.4 (352) 76.5 (420) 16.2 (87) 11.9 (66) 14.6 (79) 5.7 (31) Cabinet 57.1 (309) 66.7 (365) 18.1 (98) 17.8 (97) 17.6 (95) 7.0 (38) Council 43.4 (233) 54.5 (297) 26.2 (141) 23.8 (130) 22.7 (122) 7.9 (43) * The No Opinion category is excluded from Table 4, but percentages are based on the total number of responses.
Table 5 shows that there is a strong linear relationship between educational level and evaluation of performances. For each branch of government, respondents with higher educational levels tend to more critical in their evaluations than those with lower educational levels. This is evident in the positive evaluation category as well as in the negative category. For example, 86.8% of the respondents with the lowest level of education evaluated the Presidency as 'very good' or 'good', but 69.8% of those with a B.A. degree or higher positively evaluated the Presidency's performance. On the other hand, 3% of the lowest educated gave a negative evaluation of the Presidency's performance. The percentage of negative evaluation increases to its highest point (16.1%) among the highest educated respondents.
Table 5
Evaluation of the Government by Educational Level, weighted percentages & counts*
Positive Fair Negative Presidency
Illiterate-Elementary
Preparatory-Secondary
2-Year College
B.A.+
86.8 (211)
82.0 (454)
76.2 (67)
69.8 (76)
10.2 (25)
10.4 (58)
11.7 (10)
14.1 (15)
3.0 (7)
7.5 (42)
12.1 (11)
16.1 (18)Police & Security
Illiterate-Elementary
Preparatory-Secondary
2-Year College
B.A.+
77.1 (192)
77.6 (439)
70.9 (65)
58.7 (65)
15.8 (39)
13.6 (77)
16.2 (15)
15.9 (18)
7.1 (18)
8.8 (50)
12.9 (12)
25.4 (28)Cabinet
Illiterate-Elementary
Preparatory-Secondary
2-Year College
B.A.+
74.3 (173)
69.1 (381)
64.5 (56)
51.1 (59)
17.6 (41)
19.4 (107)
17.3 (15)
23.3 (27)
8.1 (19)
11.5 (63)
18.1 (16)
25.6 (30)Council
Illiterate-Elementary
Preparatory-Secondary
2-Year College
B.A.+
63.9 (139)
56.4 (303)
49.9 (43)
35.4 (39)
23.9 (52)
28.5 (153)
25.4 (22)
36.4 (40)
12.1 (26)
15.1 (81)
24.7 (21)
28.3 (31)* The No Opinion category is excluded from Table 5, but percentages are based on the total number of responses.
The Palestinian Legislative CouncilAfter one year since the Legislative Council elections, it seems that the Palestinian public is unsatisfied with the Council's performance. As discussed above, the Council received the lowest overall evaluation of all the branches of government, in this and the previous poll. Moreover, the public is not making an effort to contact Council Members in order to convey their concerns, positions and request; 90.9% of all respondents said that they did not try to communicate with any Members during this year. Yet, 42.7% think Council Members are ready to offer their help to those who ask for it, but 33.1% believe that they would not offer their help in solving a problem. It is also the case that barely a majority all respondents (51.7%) believe that Council Members 'know what ordinary people think'; while 29.7% say that Members 'don't know' what they think.
Table 6 shows the relationship between the evaluation of the Council's performance in respect to contact with its Members and their ability to understand and solve problems of ordinary people.
Table 6
Evaluation of the Performance of the Legislative Council by Contact with Its Members, helping if asked, and Knowledge of Ordinary People, weighted percentages & counts*
Evaluation of the Legislative Council's Performance Positive Fair Negative Contact with Members
Yes
No
8.3 (44)
91.7 (484)
9.4 (25)
90.6 (244)
14.5 (24)
85.5 (141)Would help if asked
Yes
No
56.7 (300)
20.4 (108)
32.5 (88)
42.7 (115)
22.5 (37)
61.9 (101)Know People's Problems
Yes
No
59.1 (313)
24.1 (127)
46.5 (126)
36.2 (98)
46.9 (74)
43.8 (69)* The No Opinion category is excluded from Table 6, but percentages are based on the total number of responses.
Based on Table 6, it appears that although nearly all people have not contacted any Members during this year, a positive evaluation of the Council's performance is related to the perception that its Members are ready to help with problems and understand how ordinary people think. It is the case that respondents who do not think that Members would help and that they don't know what ordinary people are twice and three times likely, respectively, to give a negative evaluation of the Council's performance. Conversely, those who believe that Council Members are easy to approach with their concerns, problems and requests give a positive assessment of its performance.
Corruption & Al-Wasta(Personal Connections and Nepotism)Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza Strip think that corruption constitutes one of the most serious problems in the process of state-building. The percentage of those who believe that there is corruption in the PA has increased from 49% three months ago to 52.7% in this survey. Moreover, respondents who think that there is corruption are split as to whether corruption will increase and/or remain the same or decrease in the future. Table 7 shows the distribution of responses on these issues by selected demographic variables.
Table 7
Corruption in the Palestinian Authority by Selected Demographic Variables, weighted percentages & counts*
Corruption in PA Institutions and Agencies Yes No Will Increase/Remain Will Decrease Region
West Bank
Gaza Strip
56.9 (391)
45.5 (182)
23.7 (163)
25.1 (100)
41.2 (179)
45.0 (91)
45.0 (195)
38.4 (78)Gender
Men
Women
63.8 (344)
41.7 (229)
19.5 (105)
28.9 (158)
42.0 (155)
42.8 (114)
44.7 (165)
40.4 (108)Education
Illiterate-Elementary
Preparatory-Secondary
2-Years College
B.A.+
38.7 (104)
53.3 (311)
58.1 (56)
74.8 (91)
32.0 (86)
27.2 (159)
10.1 (10)
5.8 (7)
32.6 (40)
42.3 (145)
45.4 (28)
52.6 (50)
47.0 (58)
44.4 (152)
35.6 (22)
36.3 (35)* The No Opinion category is excluded from Table 7, but percentages are based on the total number of responses.
As shown in Table 7, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are less likely than in the West Bank to think that there is corruption in the Palestinian Authority's institutions and agencies. It is also the case that women are less critical of the government than men. The most critical group is comprised of respondents who have obtained a B.A. degree education or higher, as 74.8% think there is corruption in the PA. Moreover, the highest educated are also most likely to think that it will increase or remain at the same level in the future. The strength of this opinion declines as education decreases, as only 32.6% of the least educated, compared to 52.6% of the highest educated think corruption will increase or remain the same. In terms of outlook toward the future on this question, there are no siggender differences. Gazans, once again, are more optimistic than West Bankers, as 44.7% compared to 38.4%, respectively, expect that corruption will decrease in the future.
One form of corruption, al-wasta, or the use of personal connections and nepotism to gain employment and other advantages within institutions, is also considered a significant problem to the public. A full majority of all respondents (56.6%) believe that al-wasta is always used to get a job, 26.6% say it is often used, and only 7.7% think that it is never used. The opinion that al-wasta is widespread (always used), prevails to a great extent among refugee camp residents (63.8%), B.A. degree holders (68.4%), professionals (75.3%), the unemployed (65.3%) and opposition parties, such as Hamas (66.5%), in comparison to Fateh supporters (52.8%).
Supporters and opponents of continuing the negotiations with Israel also differ in their views toward corruption and al-wasta in Palestinian Authority institutions and agencies (see Table 8).
Table 8
Perception of Corruption and Al-Wasta by Attitude Toward the Peace Process, weighted percentages & counts*
Corruption in the PA Necessity of al-Wasta to Obtain Employment Yes No Always Sometimes Never Peace Process
Support
Oppose
47.7 (408)
28.0 (239)
77.0 (139)
10.6 (19)
53.5 (457)
70.8 (128)
29.0 (248)
17.8 (32)
8.5 (72)
5.4 (10)* The No Opinion category is excluded from Table 8, but percentages are based on the total number of responses.
Noting the strength of the statistical (not numerical) relationship, respondents who think that there is no corruption in the PA are more likely to support the continuation of the peace process with Israel. Also, 70.8% of opponents of the negotiations greatly believe that al-wasta is a widespread problem within the PA. Barely a majority of supporters of the negotiations share this concern.
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