Majority Palestinians See Peace Talks Failing

The vast majority of Palestinians expect the alleged peace talks with the Zionist occupation to fail, according to a poll released on Monday ahead of U.S. President George W. Bush's visit.

A total of 69.5 percent of those polled said the peace talks relaunched at a US conference in November will "certainly fail" or "fail," according to the survey by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR).

Only 22.5 percent of respondents said the talks will "succeed," it said.

Almost 80 percent said that the Annapolis meeting where the talks were formally restarted did not give an impulse to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, compared with 11 percent who thought otherwise.

The survey also found that 57.4 percent do not think Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmud Abbas is strong enough to negotiate a permanent settlement with Israeli occupation on the core issues of the conflict -- settlements, the holy city of Al Quds and refugees.

And 52 percent think that even if Abbas reaches a deal, he will not be able to implement it.

The poll was carried out in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank between December 11 and 16 among 1,270 people and had a three-percent margin of error.