Poll: Gaza border breach boosted Hamas' popularity
Survey among residents of Strip shows 6-point rise in support for Islamist movement, but rival Fatah group still in the lead
RAMALLAH, West Bank - The militant Islamic Hamas group scored a marked rise in popularity in Gaza after its forces tore down sections of the border wall with Egypt, but the rival Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held on to its lead, according to an independent Palestinian poll published Wednesday.
The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research said a survey it carried out between Jan. 23 - the day of the border breach - and Feb. 3 showed a 6-point rise in support for Hamas, to 39 percent compared to 33 percent in a poll carried out in mid-December.
The latest survey, which questioned 1,232 Gazans and had a margin of error of 2 percentage points, showed support for Fatah falling to 46 percent from December's 52 percent.
Hamas rules the Gaza Strip, which it seized from Fatah forces last June, while Abbas heads a West-leaning administration based in the West Bank.
The January assault on the border walls and fences enabled hundreds of thousands of Gazans to break out and buy supplies in an Egyptian frontier town, disrupting an Israeli and Egyptian closure imposed after the Hamas takeover and recently tightened by Israel in an attempt to halt rocket attacks from neighboring Gaza.
Egypt resealed its side of the border on Sunday.
