There Is No Voting In Gaza; But There Are Polls

A Poll by Dr. Khalil Shikaki (Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research) found that only 20% of Palestinians say that Hamas emerged victorious from the war in Gaza, according to a poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in the West Bank and Gaza on August 5-8, 2026. In Oct. 2025, 39% said that Hamas had emerged victorious. In the West Bank, 21% now say that Hamas emerged victorious, compared with 48% ten months ago.

If legislative elections were held, Fatah would receive 32%, followed by Hamas with 29%. Ten months ago, 44% said they would vote for Hamas, 30% for Fatah. This means Hamas has lost more than ten points in ten months.

In the West Bank, Hamas support fell from 40% to 25%. In Gaza, Hamas support fell from 49% to 34%. 27% support the armed struggle as the best means of achieving Palestinian goals, compared with 40% in Oct. 2025.

Support in Gaza for the armed struggle declined from 34% to 21%, while support in the West Bank declined from 43% to 32% and  65% believe that the Palestinian Authority has become a burden on the Palestinian people.

At the end of Tractate Makkot 24b in the Talmud there is a very important lesson to always remember. Once Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya, Rabbi Yehoshua, and Rabbi Akiva were ascending to Jerusalem after the destruction of the Temple. When they arrived at Mount Scopus and saw the (destroyed) site of the Temple, they rent their garments in mourning. When they arrived at the Temple Mount, they saw a fox that emerged from the site of the Holy of Holies. They began weeping, and Rabbi Akiva was laughing. They said to him: Way are you laughing?

Rabbi Akiva said to them: Why are you weeping? They said: This is a place about which it is written: “And the non-priest who approaches shall die” (Numbers 1:51), and now foxes walk in it; so shall we not weep?

Rabbi Akiva said to them: That is why I am laughing, when God revealed the future to the prophet Isaiah: “And I will take to Me faithful witnesses to attest: Uriah the priest, and Prophet Zechariah” (Isaiah 8:2). Now what is the connection between Uriah and Zechariah? Uriah prophesied during the First Temple period, and Prophet Zechariah prophesied during the Second Temple period, as he was among those who returned to Zion from Babylonia. The verse established that fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah is dependent on fulfillment of the (terrible) prophecy of Uriah.

In the prophecy of Uriah it is written: “Therefore, for your sake Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become rubble, and the Temple Mount as the high places of a forest” (Micah 3:12), where foxes are found. There is a rabbinic tradition that this was prophesied by Uriah. In the prophecy of Prophet Zechariah it is written: “There shall yet be elderly men and elderly women sitting in the streets of Jerusalem” (Zechariah 8:4).

Until the prophecy of Uriah with regard to the destruction of the city was fulfilled I was afraid that the prophecy of Zechariah would not be fulfilled, as the two prophecies are linked. Now that the prophecy of Uriah was fulfilled, it is evident that the prophecy of Zechariah remains valid. The Gemara adds: The Sages said to him, Akiva, you have comforted us; Akiva, you have (really) comforted us.

Rabbi Akiva was criticized for supporting the military rebellion of Simon bar Kokhba against the Roman Empire, because the catastrophic war led to massive loss of Jewish life and the devastation of Judea. Although Gaza has not had any voting since Hamas took over; there is voting in Israel. The present extremest government needs to be weakened by the coming elections.

There will be no peace until both Palestinians and Israelis declare the chant ‘From river to sea’ becomes an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, and not death, destruction, or hate. We can make it truly aspirational by making it focus on both peoples first, and the land second. “From river to sea Palestinians and Israelis should be freed of hatred and suffering by ‘two peaceful states for two peaceful peoples sharing the land peacefully.’”

Zionism is the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in their ancestral homeland so if the Hamas charter calls for annihilation of the world’s Jews as a religious obligation, and the Palestinian Authority advocates murder of Jews in its media, mosques and schools (Gatestone Institute) decades of death will continue.

So 24% of Israeli Jews Support a Two-State Solution according to Tel Aviv University’s Peace Index survey of Israeli public opinion conducted on July 26-30, 2026, only 12% of Jewish respondents believe that negotiations will lead to peace in the coming years. And 24% of the Jewish public support the two-state solution, but only 13% believe it has a chance of being achieved in the foreseeable future.

The Hamas charter needs to be burnt by Hamas if they want to have a decent life, and both Palestinians and Israelis have rights of return.