Survey of the Academic Campaign No. (23)

Survey of the Academic Campaign No. (23)

Academics Support the President’s Speech in Turkey and the Return of the Palestinian National Authority to Gaza

Ramallah, August 19, 2024.

Results of an online opinion poll no (23), conducted by the International Academic Campaign Against Israeli Occupation and Apartheid between August 15-18, revealed that an overwhelming majority of academics and cultural elites, at 81.1%, supported President Mahmoud Abbas’s speech before the Turkish Parliament, in which he expressed his determination to visit Gaza along with the Palestinian political leadership in order to halt the genocide facing the Palestinian people in the Strip. In fact, 81.3% of respondents emphasized the importance of the Palestinian National Authority's return to Gaza, while 57.1% believed that this return would significantly contribute to stopping the genocide faced by the Palestinian people in Gaza.

In return, 43.1% of respondents believed there would be significant obstacles for the president in traveling to Gaza. Among them, 71.3% expressed doubts about whether the occupying state would allow such a visit or even the return of the Palestinian National Authority to the Gaza Strip.

In addition, 76% of participants linked the president’s speech in the Turkish Parliament to the degree of coordination and consultation between the Palestinian and Turkish leaderships regarding the president's initiative to visit Gaza. Additionally, 57.1% of respondents felt that Turkey could exert some pressure regarding the implementation of the president's initiative, given its regional and international standing. Furthermore, 54.1% of those surveyed indicated that the president's initiative to visit Gaza would receive international support from various parties.

It is worth noting that this survey included a purposive sample of 536 academics, researchers, and activists from Palestinian and foreign universities, with 67.4% residing in the West Bank, 11.8% in Gaza, 12.9% in Arab countries, and 8% in foreign countries.