BICOM

A new Israeli-Palestinian poll published yesterday suggests that despite the lack of diplomatic progress, a slim majority of Israelis and Palestinians still support a two-state solution.

The poll was conducted by Tamar Hermann at the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) in Jerusalem and Khalil Shikaki at the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) in Ramallah. It found that 51 per cent of Palestinians and 59 per cent of Israelis (53 per cent of Jewish Israelis and 87 per cent of Arab Israelis) supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

However, support from participants dropped when presented with a peace agreement package based on that from previous rounds of negotiations. The hypothetical deal included terms such as a demilitarised Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders with land swaps, the establishment of a Palestinian capital in east Jerusalem and an Israeli capital in West Jerusalem, and the return of 100,000 refugees to Israel based on family reunification. Just 39 per cent of Palestinians and 46 per cent of Israelis said they support such a package.

Nonetheless, support among both Palestinians and Israelis increased when alterations were made to such a deal. One-quarter of Palestinians and Israelis said they would change their minds and support the package if the agreement includes regional Arab-Israeli peace.

The poll also indicated that 68 per cent of Palestinians look up to Israeli democracy, seeing it as “good” or “very good,” while only 10 per cent of Israelis view Palestinian democracy positively.

Speaking about the poll, Tamar Hermann told AP that it “showed there is still some basis for optimism with the right leadership,” describing the overall findings as “not amazingly encouraging” but “not discouraging”.

The survey interviewed 1,270 Palestinians and 1,184 Israelis in June, and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.