A clear majority of Israelis believe that the establishment of a demilitarized
Palestinian state is Israel’s best chance to remain a Jewish and democratic
state in 20 years’ time, a Smith Research/Jerusalem Post poll showed on
Monday.
The survey, commissioned by Blue White Future, was conducted
among 500 respondents from a representative sample of the adult Jewish
population in Israel.
According to the survey, 58 percent of Israelis
would prefer to see Israel remain as a Jewish, democratic state through fixed
borders along the route of the West Bank security barrier, with Israel
preserving its character alongside a demilitarized Palestinian state.
A
majority of 62% supports the principle of “two states for two
peoples.”
The survey shows that younger people have more right-wing
positions than adults, with 69% of respondents aged 50 and above supporting the
two-state principle, compared to 63% among those aged 30-49 and 42% of those
aged 18- 29.
Furthermore, 25% of those aged 18-29 supported a scenario
involving the annexation of the territories without granting full rights to the
Palestinians in order to keep the state Jewish and democratic, compared with 16%
of those aged 30-49 and 7% aged 50 and above.
Meanwhile, a panel
discussion at the Sapir Academic College near Sderot on Tuesday titled
“Agreement for Peace” elaborated upon public opinion about the conflict and
premises for its resolution.
Prof. Tamar Hermann presented a study
carried out by the Israel Democracy Institute, which dealt with the position of
the Jewish Israeli public towards peace with the Palestinians.
The
research illustrated that such a peace is one of the lowest measured priorities
for the Israeli public – with an index of 14.7 in 2012 compared to 56.8 in
1969.
The social justice protests of 2011 had “almost no effect” on the
rate of achieving peace with the Palestinians, the study surmised.
MK
Arieh Eldad (National Union) commented on the findings, saying the public is
“not ready to buy the faulty product we call Oslo [Accords],” adding that
partition cannot solve the conflict, which is centered around far more than just
territory.