A recent poll has found that only 26 percent of Israelis think that Israel’s recent Operation Pillar of Defense resulted in a military victory for Israel. The comprehensive poll was conducted jointly by the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah.

The poll found that 81 percent of  Palestinians think that Hamas was the winner of the recent conflict. Israelis are more divided in their assessment: Besides the 26 percent who claim victory,  42 percent think that neither side came out the winner,  20 percent think Hamas won and 10 percent say that both sides won.

When Palestinians are asked: given the outcome of the war between Hamas and Israel and the UN recognition of a Palestinian state, whose way is best to build a Palestinian state, Hamas’s way or Abbas’s way, 60 percent say Hamas’ way and 28 percent Abbas’ way.

Correspondingly, If new presidential elections were held in the PA, Haniyeh would win with 48% of the vote to Abbas’s 45%. Three months ago, Abbas received the support of 51% and Haniyeh 40%.

59 percent of Palestinians say they support a compromise on ending the conflict that would state that when  a permanent status agreement is fully implemented, it will mean the end of the conflict and no further claims will be made by either side. 39 percent oppose the compromise.

These numbers match up closely with the Israeli public’s. 68 percent support and 28 percent oppose this component in the final status framework.

As for recognition of the legitimacy of the other side given a final status agreement, 65 percent of the Israeli public supports such a mutual recognition and 30 percent oppose it. Among Palestinians, 40 percent support and 59 percent  oppose this step.

Following the UN recognition of ‘Palestine’ as a non-member state and the Israeli operation in Gaza, 61 percent of Israelis think that armed attacks will not stop and the two sides will not return to negotiations. Two thirds of Palestinians think that negotiations will resume with or without armed confrontation.

The Palestinian Arab sample size was 1267 adults interviewed face-to-face in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in 127 randomly selected locations between December 15 and 17, 2012. The margin of error is 3%. The Israeli sample includes 600 adult Israelis interviewed by phone in Hebrew, Arabic or Russian between December 9 and 13, 2012. The margin of error is 4.5%