Palestinians show support for Abbas' statehood bid

[September 21, 2011]  RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) -- Thousands of flag-waving Palestinians rallied Wednesday in towns across the West Bank to show support for their president's bid to win U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state.

The gatherings were carefully orchestrated, with civil servants and schoolchildren given time off to participate, and the mood seemed largely subdued. Still, a new poll indicated an overwhelming majority of Palestinians support President Mahmoud Abbas' quest for U.N. recognition of a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, the areas Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War.

The rallies were held far from possible friction points with Israeli troops, except in the city of Hebron, where several hundred Jewish settlers live in a heavily fortified downtown enclave. Several dozen Palestinian boys in downtown Hebron briefly threw stones at Israeli soldiers who responded with tear gas, but no one was hurt.

Abbas has called for peaceful marches in support of statehood, and Israeli security officials have scaled back forecasts of widespread violence, even while preparing forces for possible trouble.

In the city of Ramallah, the seat of Abbas' government, crowds of youths hoisted Palestinian flags in a downtown square and chanted slogans calling for the establishment of an independent Palestine. Others used the time to mingle and do some window shopping in the newly refurbished town center with tree-lined pedestrian areas.

While the turnout was modest, participants said the gathering sent an important message.

"We want to live in dignity," said Atallah Wahbeh, a 60-year-old shopkeeper. He said it was important that the U.N. recognize a Palestinian state, even if there are repercussions, such as a possible cut in American aid.

"We don't need the Americans to buy us with money," he said.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians turned out in the northern West Bank city of Nablus in support of Abbas. Joined by a small ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect that opposes Israel's existence, activists prayed at the nearby Joseph's tomb -- holy to Jews and Muslims as the traditional burial place of the biblical prophet -- and raised a Palestinian flag.

Abbas is to address the U.N. General Assembly later this week and request full U.N. membership. With peace talks deadlocked for the past three years, the Palestinians believe a strong international endorsement will improve their position in future negotiations.

Israel and the U.S. strongly oppose the recognition bid, saying peace can be achieved only through negotiations.

Abbas has said negotiations with Israel remain his preference, but that he will only resume talks if Israel agrees to the pre-1967 frontier serving as a starting point and if it halts all settlement construction. Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says talks should begin without preconditions.

"We went to the U.N. because we are tired of negotiations for the sake of negotiations," Abbas aide Tayeb Abdel Rahim told the rally in Ramallah. He said the U.S. has been unfair to the Palestinians by pressuring other countries not to support U.N. membership for a Palestinian state.

The new poll found that 83 percent of Palestinians believe Abbas' recognition quest is a good idea, even though nearly as many -- 78 percent -- expect it will make their daily lives more difficult. The survey, conducted last week by the independent Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, included 1,200 respondents and had an error margin of 3 percentage points.

The U.N. bid is seen by many Palestinians as a last option, after two uprisings and two decades of on-and-off negotiations with Israel failed to produce a state, said pollster Khalil Shikaki. "It's simply a belief that the status quo is worse than the worst that can come out of the U.N.," he said.

Two-thirds of Palestinians favor peaceful protests, while one-third says the Palestinians should resume armed struggle, according to Shikaki's poll. The pollster said he believes Palestinians are increasingly inspired by the successes of peaceful marches during the Arab uprisings that swept the region this year.

Still, some worried about possible repercussions from the U.S. or Israel.

"It's all in vain," said Manal Jaffal, 32, a nurse. "The only thing we are going to achieve is unrest, more protests and clashes, but we won't get a state or anything close to that."

The U.S. has said it would veto Abbas' request in the U.N. Security Council, and members of Congress have threatened to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid to the Palestinians

Israel has not said how it would respond, but Palestinians fear Israeli troops could tighten West Bank checkpoints or that Israel could suspend the transfer of tax rebates it collects on behalf of the Palestinians.

According to the poll, three in four Palestinians expect Abbas' government to behave differently after a U.N. vote and try to exercise authority over all of the West Bank, even if this leads to friction with Israel.

Abbas has no control in east Jerusalem, which Israel has annexed as part of its capital, or Gaza, which is run by Hamas militants who overthrow his forces in 2007.

In Gaza, there were no demonstrations in favor of the U.N. bid. Hamas spokesman Salah Bardawil said Palestinian political factions had agreed not to hold any demonstrations to avoid inflaming tensions with Abbas' Fatah movement. The groups have pledged to reconcile but have been unable to do so.

The same opinion poll, conducted in partnership with Israel's Hebrew University, said that 34 percent of Israelis believe the country should begin negotiations with the Palestinians if the U.N. vote passes, while 35 percent said Israel should not allow any change on the ground by the Palestinians.

Just 16 percent said Israel should expand settlement construction; 7 percent said Israel should annex West Bank territory and 4 percent support invading the Palestinian territory.

[Associated Press; By KARIN LAUB]

Associated Press writers Dalia Nammari in Ramallah and Nasser Shiyoukhi in Hebron contributed to this report.

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