A poll published Tuesday shows that 68 percent of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza trust the performance of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The poll conducted by the Ramallah-based Near East Consulting Group also said 54 percent of the respondents trust Prime Minister of the Palestinian caretaker government Salam Fayyad.

It said that 32 percent respondents support Ismail Haneya, the deposed Prime Minister of Hamas in Gaza. Haneya was deposed by Abbas after Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in June last year.

The poll was published following ten days of tension and exchanges of crackdowns between the two rival movements, Hamas and Fatah in the West Bank and Gaza.

Tension between the two groups mounted following a Gaza beachside bombing on July 25 which killed five Hamas militants and a little girl. No one claimed responsibility for the attack.

The poll said 42 percent of those who participated in the poll said Fatah movement headed by Abbas ruling the West Bank is more interested in launching a dialogue than Hamas movement that rules the Gaza Strip.

"77 percent of the Palestinians support an immediate unconditioned dialogue between Fatah and Hamas movements to end the status of internal division between Gaza and the West Bank," said the poll.

In relation to the peace process, the poll said 69 percent of the Palestinians support a permanent peace agreement with Israel, while 31 percent oppose the peace with Israel.

The Near East Consulting Group said 870 Palestinians, including 450 from Gaza and 420 from the West Bank, joined the poll. They were haphazardly chosen and were asked to answer the poll's questions on telephone. The group said the margin error in the poll was 3.5 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency August 6, 2008)