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Israelis Remain Different on Barak's Camp David Move: Poll
More than half of Israelis are affirmative on Prime Minister Ehud Barak's decision to attend the Camp David peace summit while a similar proportion of people think he offered too much to the Palestinians, according to an opinion poll published on Friday.
The "exclusive" poll, by the Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post, of 513 Jewish and Arab Israelis showed that 59 percent of the respondents said Barak was right to go to Camp David, while 37 percent opposed the move. Four percent had no reply.
Asked to comment on the negotiations that took place at the failed summit, 53 percent of those polled said Barak offered too much while 28 percent said he offered the right amount. Eight percent had no reply.
In response to the question as to how Barak should handle the shaky coalition government which has a minority 42 seats in the 120-member parliament, 41 percent of the respondents held that Barak should call new elections in the aftermath of the abortive summit, while 32 percent said he should form a national unity government and 13 percent said he should build a left-wing coalition with the pro-peace Meretz, the Arab parties and others.
Only six percent said the prime minister should rebuild the coalition he had earlier by bringing back the rebellious ultra- Orthodox Shas party, the Yisrael Ba'aliya and the National Religious Party, which deserted it on the eve of his departure for the summit.
The poll, which had a margin error of 4.4 percent, also revealed that 60 percent of the respondents did not believe the Palestinian truly wanted peace, while 32 percent thought the opposite. Eight percent made no comment.
"In all polls, we always see that the Israeli people overwhelmingly want peace. " The paper quoted the pollster, Rafi Smith, as saying. "When you get into the details, the numbers go down, but everyone supports peace."
"Here, we see the full tragedy of the conflict. Despite the prime minister's major concessions, the Israeli people do not believe the Palestinians truly want peace." the pollster asserted.
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