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Two years into Israel’s genocide in Gaza, it remains unclear what will come of the recent wave of international recognition of Palestinian statehood. Although a ceasefire deal was announced today, its prospects are uncertain: Israel continued to strike Gaza despite the agreement and carried out extensive bombardment of the Strip during weeks of indirect peace talks leading up to it.
What limited political power Palestinians held before the war has been eroded by a surge in state-backed settler violence in the West Bank, a deliberate divide-and-rule strategy of empowering criminal gangs inside Israel, and the systematic silencing of Palestinian politicians and media. Meanwhile, as Israel advances de facto annexation, the West Bank teeters on economic collapse.
Beyond debates over the merits of recognition lies a deeper question: How are Palestinians themselves thinking about their political future? In this bleak moment, what forms of governance, sovereignty, or resistance still feel possible?
In this episode of The +972 Podcast, we speak with Zayne Abudaka, co-founder and senior fellow at the Institute for Social and Economic Progress in Ramallah. An economist and entrepreneur, Abudaka leads the institute’s efforts to collect and analyze Palestinian public opinion in the West Bank and Gaza, adapting polling methods throughout the war to reach Palestinians under extraordinarily difficult conditions.
Among other issues, Abudaka discusses his team’s recent findings on Palestinians’ attitudes toward party politics, armed resistance, the two-state paradigm, and the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement. He also explains how dominant polling practices often flatten or outright distort Palestinian perspectives, and how Israel and the international media have cynically used public opinion data — especially about how Gazans view Hamas’ actions on October 7 — to justify the ongoing genocide.
