Palestinians and Israelis stand far apart on Peace

A joint Palestinian-Israeli poll published Wednesday showed the two sides standing very far apart on how to make peace. According to the poll, conducted jointly 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, 68% of Palestinians and 64% of Israelis view chances for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state next to Israel in the next five years as low to non-existent. In addition, 68% of Israelis reject a Palestinian demand that Israel should stop settlement construction as a precondition for resuming peace negotiations. On the other hand, 58% of Palestinians oppose return to negotiations with Israel without a halt to settlement activities and acceptance of the 1967 lines as the borders of the future Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The poll was conducted in the aftermath of the exploratory talks held in Amman, Jordan, in January and in the backdrop of the recent round of violent clashes in southern Israel and the Gaza Strip. Poll results showed that 69% of Israelis support cooperation between Israel and the United States in the bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities, but only 42% support such an operation by Israel alone. Large majorities of both Israelis (73%) and Palestinians (85%) think that if Israel were to carry out a military strike against Iran a big regional war will erupt. Palestinians were divided in half in their assessment of whether Israel will strike Iran or not, with 46% believed it would and 48% said it will not. The poll was conducted between March 11 and 15 on a Palestinian sample size of 1270 adults interviewed face-to-face in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, with a 3% margin of error, and an Israeli sample size of 600 adults interviewed by phone in Hebrew, Arabic or Russian and with a 4.5% margin of error.