By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMANSchalit video 248.88(photo credit: )
A poll taken by Independent Media Review Analysis this week found that an overwhelming majority of Israelis believe that Israel's policy of redeeming captives should only be toughened after kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit's release.
A task force headed by former Supreme Court justice Meir Shamgar has prepared new guidelines setting a limited "price" Israel will pay in the future. The National Union party has campaigned for the new standards to already be set in advance of the Schalit deal, which could prevent the swap from taking place.
Of the respondents who expressed an opinion, 55 percent were in favor of setting the new policies only after the Schalit deal. Just 23% said the criteria should be changed before the deal, and 22% said the guidelines should not be changed at all.
The poll also found that a huge majority of Israelis believe that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu decided to freeze settlement construction in Judea and Samaria due to pressure from US President Barack Obama, but that the freeze would only increase international pressure for further concessions.
Asked whether Netanyahu decided on the freeze because he thought it would advance the peace process with the Palestinians or to satisfy Obama, 77% of respondents who expressed an opinion said the latter and just 23% the former.
More than two-thirds of respondents said Netanyahu broke campaign promises with the freeze, that he violated his principle of reciprocity and that he had to bring the freeze to a vote in the Knesset.
The poll was taken by telephone on Tuesday and Wednesday among 512 Israelis representing a statistical model of the Jewish Israeli population.