Israel Matzav

Polls: Israelis wake up and smell the coffee

Two new polls show that significant majorities of Israelis now oppose Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's convergence consolidation realignment surrender, expulsion and suicide plan in Judea and Samaria.

The following are the results of a telephone poll of a representative sample of 517 adult Israelis (including Israeli Arabs) 11-12 July 2006 (before the min-war in Lebanon) by Maagar Mohot Survey Institute (headed by Professor Yitzchak Katz commissioned by the "Hatzofeh" and "Yisraeli" newspapers (the "Yisraeli" newspaper is a free paper distributed on trains and busses)). [AL is Aaron Lerner, who publishes the IMRA web site. CiJ]

In your opinion, in light of what recently took place in Gaza, was the disengagement plan [AL: the retreat from Gaza] justified?
Yes 44% No 31% Don't know/other replies 25%

Are you for or against Ehud Olmert's convergence plan? [AL: aka "consolidation plan", retreat from most of the West Bank]
For 19% Against 52% Don't know/other replies 29%

In your opinion, do most of the citizens of the State of Israel have enough information about Ehud Olmert's convergence plan?
Yes 11% No 71% Don't know/other replies 18%

The second poll was a Midgam commissioned by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (although I cannot find it on their web site, it was reported this morning in the Jerusalem Post in the paper edition, but there is no link) and was taken last Tuesday, i.e. also before the current events in Lebanon began:

The poll found that 58.5% of Israelis would oppose withdrawal surrender from Judea and Samaria, while only 39.5% would support it.

It found that 63.9% of Israelis think that what happened in Gaza should impact Israel's decision about the future of Judea and Samaria, while 32.1% think it should not.

It also found that 65% of Israelis believe that the unilateral withdrawal surrender of Gaza and expulsion of its Jews did not enhance Israel's security, and that 79.6% oppose withdrawing from areas in Judea and Samaria from which Kassam rockets could be fired into Israel (which, by the way, is just about all of the areas Olmert wants to surrender).

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:06 PM