Israel Matzav

Only half of Americans oppose unilateral creation of 'Palestine'

I saw this being touted as 'majority of Americans' oppose unilateral creation of 'Palestine,' but frankly I'm disappointed with this poll. Given that other polls have consistently shown support for Israel in the 60's and support for the 'Palestinians' in the teens, one has to wonder why only a bare majority of Americans oppose the unilateral creation of a 'Palestinian' state. Additionally, less than half of all Democrats - a party that got 76% of the Jewish vote in the 2008 election - oppose the unilateral creation of a 'Palestinian' state.

A small majority of Americans seem to be opposed to a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state in the absence of a bilateral peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, according to a newly released poll from The Israel Project.

The survey, conducted last week among 800 registered voters, suggested that support for Israel remains strong among Americans, particularly among older, more conservative voters in the South and West of the United States.

“The key targets for us to grow our support are Democrats, younger voters, women and minorities,” pollster Neil Newhouse said on a conference call on the poll Monday, adding that while those groups do support Israel, their support tends to be “softer.”

“We need to get the message across to some of the more liberal members of the Democratic coalition,” Newhouse said.

Fifty-one percent of voters polled said they would oppose the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state, with 29% of those responding that they would strongly oppose it, whereas 31% of voters polled said they would support such a unilateral declaration, 12% of those stating they would strongly support it.

Opposition to unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state cuts across party lines in the US, according to the poll’s data. Some 66% of Republicans opposed it as did 44% of independents and 48% of Democrats.

Without a peace treaty in place between Israelis and Palestinians, 54% of respondents believe the US should not recognize a Palestinian state, whereas 33% of respondents feel that the US should recognize a unilaterally declared state.

Read the whole thing.

Maybe most Americans don't understand what the unilateral creation of a 'Palestinian state' means. It doesn't just mean 'without a peace treaty.' It means without any guarantees of Israel's (or for that matter, the 'Palestinians') security. It means that as soon as the 'state' is declared, there's a likelihood of war, and the 'Palestinians' appealing to the 'international community' to send troops. That would be an even worse disaster.

And it gets worse from there....

Or maybe Americans do understand and just don't care. Maybe they've just had enough.

Labels: Palestinian state RIGHT NOW syndrome, unilateral declaration of statehood, United Nations General Assembly, United Nations Security Council

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:38 AM