'Israelis think Gaza op ended too early'

Truman-PSR poll: 2 in 3 Israelis think Cast Lead should have continued, only 48% back cease-fire.

By ELANA KIRSH
idf soldiers leave gaza celebrate 248ap (photo credit: AP [file])
idf soldiers leave gaza celebrate 248ap
(photo credit: AP [file])
Two-thirds of Israelis believe that Operation Cast Lead against Hamas terrorists in Gaza finished too early, according to a Truman-PSR poll released Monday. However the survey, commissioned by the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah, also found that only thirty percent of Israelis back reoccupying Gaza in the case of continued rocket-fire on the South. Among Israelis, the poll found support for a permanent cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas to be declining, at only 48%. Among Palestinians, however, 75% were found to back such an agreement. Concerning Palestinian statehood, both Israelis and Palestinians saw prospects as bleak. Both also said they opposed final status negotiations before 'Road-map' conditions are met: that Palestinians renounce violence and Israelis stop settlement building. The study, conducted in the first week of March, was supported by the Ford Foundation Cairo office and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Ramallah and Jerusalem. A total of 1,270 Palestinians and 602 Israelis were interviewed for the study, both face-to-face, over the phone, and at a variety of locations around the country. The margin of error was 4.5%.