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For example, Majed Azzam wrote in the Hamas-affiliated weekly Al Risala in Gaza that Palestinians "should have the courage to acknowledge the truth," that the only thing that "prevents the chaos and turmoil in Gaza from spreading to the West Bank is the presence of the Israeli occupation." Another Palestinian writer, Bassem al-Nabris, a poet from Khan Yunis, in the Gaza Strip, wrote in the Arabic electronic newspaper Elaph that if there was a referendum in the Gaza Strip on the question of whether people would like the Israeli occupation to return, "half the population would vote 'yes.' But in practice," he continued, "I believe that the number of those in favor is at least 70 percent, if not more."