Ramallah - The political unification of the West Bank and Gaza Strip is the Palestinians' greatest priority, according to an opinion poll Monday, as factions from both sides begin unity talks in Cairo.

The poll, conducted by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR), said 46 per cent of Palestinians surveyed said unity is their most important priority, followed by 28 per cent saying peace between Israel and the Hamas-led government in the Gaza Strip.

Talks start Tuesday in Cairo with the goal of ending almost two years of bitter and sometimes bloody rivalry between the two main political factions, Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank's Fatah.

According to the poll, conducted between March 5 and 7, the popularity of Fatah and its leader, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, continued to decline.

If presidential elections in the Palestinian territories were held today, Abbas would get 45 per cent of the votes compared to 47 per cent for Hamas leader Ismail Haniye. In the previous PCPSR survey three months ago, Abbas received 48 per cent of the votes and Haniye 38 per cent.

At the same time, popularity of Hamas increased from 28 per cent in December 2008 to 33 per cent in the new poll, while popularity of Fatah dropped from 42 per cent to 40 per cent.

Poll officials said the rise in Hamas' popularity was due to the way the movement handled the devastating 22-day Israeli military assault on the Gaza strip which ended on January 18 - even though 71 per cent of the people surveyed said conditions of Palestinians in Gaza were worse after the Israeli military assault than before it.

The survey, with a 3 per cent margin of error, had interviewed 1,270 Palestinian adults in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. (dpa)