Author Date

2026-03-05

Degree Name

Department

Political Science

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Defense Date

2026-03-12

Publication Date

2026-03-25

First Faculty Advisor

David Romney

First Faculty Reader

Joshua Gubler

Honors Coordinator

Doug Atkinson

Keywords

radicalize, rally, saturation, conflict, Hamas, Gaza

Abstract

International violence has been connected to domestic public opinion in a variety of ways. Most of the research on this topic focuses on large-scale events like war and ignores smaller events like airstrikes, border conflicts, and police action. This thesis examines small-scale, individual-level violence in Palestine and what impact this violence has on Palestinian public opinions. It uses data on Palestinian casualties to specifically examine the effects of violence perpetrated by Israel in the period 2000-2016—a period marked by frequent conflict short of all-out war. Through multilevel regression analysis, I find that this low-level violence does influence Palestinian public opinion, particularly increasing Palestinians’ support for the use of violence against Israelis as well as support for radical political parties within Palestine. I measured other public opinion outcomes such as support for the executive in power and for the political party in power; neither of these measures are affected by violence as strongly or consistently as opinions about violence and radical parties.