AP: Islamic Jihad-affiliated Pollster Says Palestinians Favor Intifada

The Associated Press yesterday (December 9th), ran an article relating how a pollster’s data shows that Palestinians prefer “the Hamas” way, and that the majority support a renewed intifada against Israel:

The poll also found that more than half of Palestinians support a new uprising against Israel, and that the Hamas militant group would win presidential elections if they were held today.

Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki said the results reflected Palestinian anger over Israeli statements about the Jerusalem holy site, which is revered by Jews and Muslims, as well as a loss of hope following the collapse of U.S.-brokered peace talks and Israel’s recent war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research interviewed 1,270 people in the West Bank and Gaza last week. The poll had an error margin of 3 percentage points.

“There is an environment in which violence is becoming a dominant issue,” said Shikaki. “This seems to be one of the most important driving forces.”

What the Associate Press some how managed to neglect to mention was that the Palestinian pollster, Khalil Shikaki has ties to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) through his brother, Fathi Shikaki, a founder and former head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Khalil Shikaki was deeply affiliated with the Islamic Committee for Palestine (ICP), the American branch of PIJ, through his connection with convicted PIJ organizer Sami Al-Arian. The indispensable Investigative Project on Terrorism noted:

Who is Dr. Sami al-Arian and what is the Islamic Committee for Palestine (ICP)? Perhaps the best one-sentence description of this organization and its director, Dr. Sami al-Arian, was given in an affidavit by William West, a special agent for the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the United States Department of Justice, on November 17, 1995, requesting a search warrant of al-Arian’s house and offices. West points out that the ICP was used as a “front” group for the Islamic Jihad:

“Based upon the facts and information that I have set forth…, I have probable cause to believe that ICP and WISE were utilized by Sami al-Arian and Ramadan Abdullah Shallah as “fronts” in order to enable individuals to enter the United States, in an apparent lawful fashion, despite the fact that these individuals were international terrorists…”

In an immigration hearing in July 1996 for one of the suspects in the Islamic Jihad investigation, INS agent West testified that the ICP and WISE served as “front groups” for the Islamic Jihad in the United States. The evidence clearly shows that both WISE and ICP served as the command post for the Islamic Jihad within the United States.

I highly recommend you read the entire IPT report on Khalil Shakiki as it lays out in devastating detail Shikaki’s ties to Palestinian Islamic Jihad and association with known Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas front groups, including the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) and the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR), based on what information is available according to federal trial documents.

This information is not a secret, in fact the IPT report comes up as the fourth link in a standard google search of the term “Khalil Shikaki”. The Associated Press must have done precisely zero due diligence in its reporting and every newspaper and media outlet which cited the Shakiki report should feel obligated to provide this information to its readers, so they can draw their own conclusions regarding the validity of the jihadist propaganda being peddled as legitimate by western journalists.