Attitudes towards religion
In 1992, in the first comprehensive household survey of the population in the West Bank and Gaza, approximately 65 per cent of respondents were found to be religiously ‘observant’, another 15 per cent were found to be ‘religious activists’ and approximately 20 per cent were found to be ‘secular’ (Heiberg and Ovenson 1993: 260).
These categorizations were based'on how respondents scored in relation to a series of questions related to religious and political sentiments and actions. While ‘measuring’ religiosity through a standard survey format is, at best, highly proximate, the data did provide some indicators about the extent to which religious commitment and identification were features of Palestinian social and political life during that particular moment. By comparing these findings to subsequent surveys, the data show the extent to which various aspects of religiosity are fluid and, to some extent, are influenced by social and political events and processes even within limited time periods. Additionally, as the categorization of the 1992 data above attempts to show, religious beliefs and actions do not simply or automatically translate into politics: in other words, to be observant does not necessarily translate into support for Islamist movements. While this distinction should be obvious, in studies on political Islam there is often a tendency to conflate the two.The 1992 survey found slightly higher religiosity in Gaza (78 per cent) than in the West Bank (74 per cent), although it found that religious activism was higher in the latter area — 19 per cent in the West Bank versus 16 per cent in Gaza (Heiberg 1993: 260). Three years later in 1995, the Center for Palestine Research and Studies (CPRS) attempted to measure some similar issues. Although they did not use the same questions, it is possible to make some overall comparisons.
In 1995, the CPRS found that 43 per cent of the population unequivocally described themselves as religious; 47 per cent of Gazans compared to 40 per cent of West Bankers (Hammami 1997a). Although the absence of the category ‘activist’ makes comparisons about activist Islam impossible, the overall percentage claiming to be religious or ‘somewhat’ religious shows a decline from approximately 80 to 57 per cent within a period of only three years.41 How can the drop be explained? The intervening three-year period between the two surveys saw dramatic changes in the everyday lives of Palestinians in the occupied territories. In 1992, the population was still experiencing the long, chaotic and debilitating breakdown of the first Palestinian intifada, and just coming out of the Gulf War. By 1995, a peace agreement had been signed between the PLO and Israel, and the populations of Gaza and Jericho were finally experiencing the first fruits of postoccupation normalcy with the Israeli occupation forces no longer a presence in their immediate communities. Clearly, while religious belief itself at the mass level is not so directly and immediately affected by political events and economic shocks, the weight given to religion within everyday life can be.While the CPRS survey did not use the category ‘religiously activist’, its findings suggest the important distinction between religious piety on the one hand, and a commitment to political religion on the other. The 1995 survey further points to the fact that Islam as politics also needs to be differentiated, between abstract political values (an Islamic state) and concrete support for specific Islamist movements and ideologies. As Table II. 1 suggests, in 1995, religion as a positive social value and as an abstract normative political ideal garnered great support. In contrast, actual Palestinian politico-religious groups and their leaders did not. The highest levels of religious feeling relate to it as a positive moral and ethical force in society — expressed in the high degree of respondents strongly agreeing on the need to promote God’s word or viewing the parting from religion as a very important problem (approximately 75 per cent of respondents).
The second role of religion, as an abstract normative political ideal, elicited slightly less support, although still quite high, as expressed in the number of respondents willing to sacrifice their lives for the Islamic Umma or those supporting the idea that ‘Islam is the solution’ (approximately 62 per cent of respondents).42Table II. 1 The role of religion in society versus politics (%)
West Bank Gaza Total
| The need to promote God’s word (strongly agree) | 77 | 85 | 80 |
| Parting from religion (very important problem) | 66 | 78 | 71 |
| Willing to sacrifice highest price for Islamic Umma (always) | 55 | 60 | 57 |
| Islam is the solution (yes) | 66 | 66 | 66 |
| I support political Islamic parties (applies) | bgcolor=white>3731 | 35 | |
| Role for religious men in politics (very important) | 29 | 34 | dz |
| Candidate’s religiosity is (very important) election qualification | 37 | 41 | 38 |
Source-. Hammami 1997a, based on 1995 CPRS poll
However, wrhile respondents highly valued religion in ethical and abstract terms, there was much less support for political religious leaders and parties in the concrete with approximately only 34 per cent of respondents claiming to support them. Ultimately, the complexity and contradiction inherent in religious dispositions is also reflected in the fact that only 43 per cent of all respondents in the survey described themselves unequivocally as religious, but a full 80 per cent of them put a high priority’ on the need to promote God’s w,ord. This suggests the power of religion as part of a community’s moral identity, but whose ideals individuals often feel unable to fulfil in their everyday lives.
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