Palestinian Pulse: What Policymakers Can Learn From Palestinian Social Media

In 2005, Washington supported the decision to hold Palestinian legislative elections in January 2006. Decision-makers trusted polling data that all but guaranteed a victory for the secular Fatah faction over Hamas, a designated terrorist organization. In retrospect, this was a grave error; Hamas won the election by a wide margin. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice later admitted, "It does say something about us not having a good enough pulse." Four years later, amidst a new U.S. drive for Middle East peace, has our ability to gauge Palestinian political sentiment improved? The Foundation for Defense of Democracies commissioned a study, using proprietary software usually deployed on behalf of the U.S. military, to explore the Arabic-language social media websites that are popular among Palestinians. This study reveals the trends, thoughts, and perceptions of Palestinians on a range of issues, with a focus on those that could impact current U.S. policies.