Jerusalem (AsiaNews) – Pollution is one of many problems preying on Palestinians: the vast majority (78.1%) is worried about the environment, although only 37.6% say the situation is "worse" than it was 10 years ago and 32.9% even think it is better. These are some of the findings, sent to AsiaNews, of a survey about economic and political conditions of Palestinians. The study was conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Public Opinion (PCPO), an independent entity that has studied Palestinian public opinion since 1994. It is run by Nabil Kukali, a Christian professor at Hebron University in Cisjordan.

The survey questioned 1,276 respondents from both Cisjordan and Gaza, mostly city dwellers (49.6%). The research found that 32.1% of Palestinians are "very worried" about the environment, 46.1% are "worried" and 16.3% are "not very" worried, while only 3.6% are not concerned "at all".

"Mismanagement" of the Territories was held to be responsible for the plight of the environment, and the reason for this was largely the "debility" of institutions charged with its protection (73.7%). A lack of government funding (72.5%) was also cited as a cause.  However, when asked to judge the performance of environment protection agencies, 8.9% of respondents said it was "very good", 37.1% said "good", compared to 31.8% who found it "mediocre", 11.1% who said it was "bad" and 10% who said it was "very bad".

The most worrying element of environmental conditions for respondents was air pollution (74.9%), although there were concerns about accumulation of refuse (61%), risks caused by insecticide and fertilizers (57.6%), industrial pollution (52.8%), and noise (50.8%). Many (56.6%) pointed a finger against a lacking commitment to raise awareness about environmental problems, saying television was the best means (82.3%) to inform people about the problem, followed by radio (71.8%) and dailies (55.2%).

A very large majority (76.6%) declared it was ready to take part in campaigns to increase awareness about environmental themes: 73% said they wanted to respect laws and rules about the environment; 63.2% said they were prepared to do voluntary work; 54.7% said they would contribute to a fund to protect the environment, even to the extent of accepting (50.1%) an added tax, although this last question drew the highest dissent (49.9%).

Kukali said the research revealed how the environment was "one of the fundamental matters for Palestinians because of bad environmental conditions in the country, which are further deteriorating". This is especially because the political situation, "the siege imposed on the Territories and the construction of the partitioning wall, which has resulted in the expropriation along its route of the most fertile agricultural land, especially those planted with olive and fruit trees."