Israel Matzav

80% of Israelis believe 'Palestinians' would destroy us if they could, 74% say even with a 'peace agreement'

Why aren't Israelis rushing to make 'peace' with the 'Palestinians'? Here's why (via IMRA):

• Will the goods be delivered? A large majority (73%) thinks that if an agreement is signed, the leadership of the Palestinian Authority will not be able to uphold its commitments because of the opposition of Hamas and other groups. However, a similar majority (70%) believes that if the Israeli government signs a peace agreement, it will be able to honor the commitments it has undertaken despite the opposition of various domestic elements.

...

• What do the Palestinians really want? Today, too, an overwhelming majority of the Jewish public (80%) thinks that the Palestinians have not come to terms with Israel’s existence and would destroy Israel if they could. Moreover, 74% think there will be no change in this position even if a peace agreement is signed.

...

It should be noted, however, that today, as in the past, a large majority of the Jewish public (72%) favors negotiations, while only 33% believe the negotiations will bear fruit. The tendency in the Arab public is similar, although the gap between support and belief is smaller. Here the rate of support for negotiations is 58% while the rate of confidence in the results is 38%. In other words, the smaller gap mainly reflects the lower rate of support in the Arab public.

The Palestinians are currently demanding a freeze on settlement construction as a condition for renewing talks, while Israel is demanding a payback for a construction freeze: recognition of Israel as the state of the Jewish people. A large majority of the Jewish public (74%) supports Netanyahu’s demand for recognition of Israel as the state of the Jewish people as a condition for extending the construction freeze in the settlements. Note that no significant differences were found in the majority that supports Netanyahu’s position when Jewish respondents were segmented into groups based on their degree of religiosity. A segmentation by voting patterns shows that those who reject Netanyahu’s demand only have a majority among Meretz voters. Not surprisingly, an overwhelming majority of the Arab public (79%) opposes the demand that Israel be recognized as the state of the Jewish people, since in their view, such recognition would perpetuate and aggravate their status as a national minority.

If the two sides were to sit at the table and ultimately come to an agreement, the question is asked what price the Israelis are prepared to pay for peace. It emerges that in return for permanent peace with the Palestinians backed by the United States, half of the Jewish public is ready to evacuate settlements beyond the large settlement blocs (a large minority of 43% opposes this). However, only a minority (28%) thinks Israel should sign such an agreement and evacuate all of the settlements in the territories (a majority of 65% oppose such an evacuation). When the Jewish public’s answers to the question of a full evacuation for a permanent peace agreement are segmented by the parties responded voted for in the 2009 Knesset elections, only among Meretz voters is there unequivocal support for a total evacuation. Labor voters are evenly split on the issue, and a large minority (47%) of Kadima voters favors such a tradeoff. In the Arab public, there is sweeping support (80%) for a full evacuation in return for a permanent agreement.

As for the possibility of leaving Jewish settlers who want to remain where they are under Palestinian rule following a peace settlement, the Jewish public is evenly split on whether to enable settlers to remain in their homes after an evacuation and transfer of the territories to the Palestinian Authority: 47% support such a possibility while 48% oppose it. A segmentation of the Jewish respondents by voting shows that among Kadima, Labor, and Meretz voters, a majority favors providing settlers with this type of option, while among voters for the rest of the parties, minorities of different sizes support it. A majority of the Arab public, though not
large (56%), opposes giving Jewish settlers the option of living under Palestinian rule.

...

Shortly after Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed his support for renewing the negotiations, Foreign Minister Lieberman presented a very different position in his speech to the UN General Assembly and his subsequent meetings with the foreign ministers of France and Spain. We asked whether in light of this, Foreign Minister Lieberman should remain in his post. A slim majority of the Jewish public (51% vs. 43%) thinks Lieberman should be left in his post as foreign minister despite the fact that he has publicly presented views that contradict those of Prime Minister Netanyahu. An identical majority thinks that Netanyahu should not dissolve his coalition with Yisrael Beiteinu because of Lieberman's positions and form a new
coalition with Kadima. In the Arab public, however, a large majority (67%) thinks Lieberman should be removed from his post, and a majority (62%) thinks Netanyahu should replace the alliance with Yisrael Beiteinu with a coalitional partnership with the Kadima Party.

A considerable part of the answers to the questions above apparently derive from an overall worldview regarding the intentions of the Palestinians. Hence, we again asked a question that we have asked many times in the past. It turns out that today, as in the past, an overwhelming majority of the Jewish public (80%) believes the Palestinians have not come to terms with Israel’s existence and would destroy it if they could. Moreover, 74% think no change will occur in this position even if a peace agreement is signed with the Palestinians. Among Arab respondents a majority of about 70% rejected these notions; the majority of Arab respondents think the
Palestinians have accepted Israel’s existence and do not want to destroy it now or after a peace agreement is signed.

Read the whole thing. Almost no one here expects peace to suddenly break out.

For the record, Meretz has three seats (out of 120) in the current Knesset.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:22 AM