Israel Matzav

78% of Israeli Jews: 'Palestinians' won't see peace agreement as end of conflict

The monthly peace index for August is out, and to me this is the most striking finding.

• Peace Agreement as End of Conflict: 78% of Jewish respondents do not believe that the Palestinians would truly see the signing of a peace agreement as marking the end of the conflict, while 20% do. 48% of Arab respondents do not believe so either, and 44% do believe the peace agreement would mark the end of conflict.

The report was headlined "Majority of Jewish, Arab Israelis Believe Two-State Solution Is Possible," and that was because of these two findings:

• Two-State Solution Is Not Dead: 54% of Israeli Jews disagree with Minister Naftali Bennett's assertion that the two-state solution is dead, while 41% agree with him. 58% of Israeli Arabs also disagree, and 32% agree.
• Peace Agreement to Prevent a Binational State: 48% of Jewish Israelis agree with Prime Minister Netanyahu's statement that a peace agreement is vital to preventing Israel from becoming a binational state without a Jewish majority in the foreseeable future, while 45% disagree. Among Arab Israelis, 34% agree with Netanyahu's assertion, and 50% do not.

Perhaps if the question had been phrased that the 'two-state solution' is dying rather than dead, the results would have been different. Perhaps the closeness of the agree/disagree margin on Netanyahu's statement that a peace agreement is 'vital' indicates that most Israelis don't believe that a peace agreement is going to happen, and in light of the end of conflict result I cited, most of them don't want it to happen either.

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, end of conflict, Middle East peace process, Naftali Bennett

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:28 PM