More than eight months after the Palestinian leadership decided to break all ties and contacts with the United States, the majority of Palestinians appear to have sided with their leadership, whose popularity has increased slightly.

According to the latest public opinion poll of Palestinians, published Aug. 6 by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center (JMCC) in cooperation with the Berlin-based Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 61% oppose US peace efforts, while 80% of respondents “don’t believe [the forthcoming US peace plan] will produce anything acceptable to Palestinians.”

The survey also shows a slight increase in trust of President Mahmoud Abbas since January, rising from 10.6% to 11.1%, and a small increase in support for the Fatah movement, which dominates the Palestinian government, from 22.3% to 25%, likely due to widespread Palestinian opposition to the US decision in December to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Had it not been for that policy shift, support for Fatah would have been much worse.

Ghassan Khatib, founder of JMCC, spoke to Al-Monitor about the results, stating, “In my opinion, the slight improvement in the popularity of the Palestinian leadership is temporary and connected to the current tension with the US and Israel.”