Israeli Jews are becoming more skeptical about a peace agreement with the
Palestinians, with 83 percent saying a withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders and
the division of Jerusalem would not end the conflict.
The poll was the
third in a series conducted since 2005 by Dr. Mina Tzemach on behalf of the
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. The findings are based on 500 telephone
interviews conducted at the end of November with adult residents of
Israel.
According to the findings, 71% of the Jewish respondents opposed
giving up all of the east Jerusalem neighborhoods outside the Old City, and 79%
felt it was important for the Palestinians to recognize Israel’s right to exist
as a Jewish state – but only 27% believed this would happen.
A summary of
the findings concludes that Israeli Jews overwhelmingly support the demand that
the Palestinians recognize the State of Israel as a Jewish state. It also
mentions that evidence in other surveys shows similar support for the demand
that the PA renounce the right of return.
Taken together, these results show
that only a third of Israeli Jews believe that the Palestinians would agree to
these two stances – which are clearly understood to be demands that Israel would
make before any final agreement.
Moreover, 77% of the Jewish respondents
thought that both Fatah and Hamas were incapable of ending the
conflict.
This pessimistic attitude seems to have been aggravated by
recent violence, as a majority of the Jewish respondents thought the
developments called for holding onto vital territories.
When asked, “What
is preferable – defensible borders or a peace agreement?,” 61% of the Jewish
respondents said defensible borders.
This represents a huge shift from
the 2005 poll, where only 49% chose defensible borders. In a related question,
72% of the Jewish respondents said that strategic depth had security value,
while 23% said it had none.
On Jerusalem, 78% of the Jewish respondents
said they would vote for another party if the one they intended to vote for
expressed willingness to return land in the capital.
On Iran, 75% of the
Jewish respondents thought that sanctions would not stop Iran’s nuclear weapons
drive.
And in a key question relating to a possible unilateral attack on
Iran by Israel, 60% said Israel could not rely on the US, while 53% said they
supported an attack against Iran.