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Israelis Support Peace Process, Differ in Details: Survey
Most Israelis in general support the peace process with Arab countries, but they differ in details of such a peace, a survey published Wednesday by Israel's Independent Media Review and Analysis showed.
The data, compiled by the Center for Peace Research at Tel Aviv University, also showed that majority Israelis think that the peace process is not the most urgent affair facing the Jewish state.
The survey interviewed 508 people, a representative sampling of the adult Jewish population (including settlers in the West Bank), by phone at the end of August, and its margin of error is about 4.5 percent.
It showed that a consolidating majority of 72.2 percent said that they support peace between Israel and the Arabs in general, while only 19.8 percent said they are opponents of the peace process.
However, when asked about opinions on the Oslo agreement, which was signed seven years ago and began the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, only 36.4 percent of Israelis said that they are "heavily in favor" or "considerably in favor" of the agreement.
Thirty-five percent of Israelis said they are "considerably opposed" or "heavily opposed" such an accord, while 15.6 percent are "in the middle".
Forty-five percent of the interviewees said that they do not believe the Oslo accords will bring about peace between Israel and the Palestinians in the coming years, while only 35.6 percent said they do believe peace will come because of the accord.
The survey further showed that majority Israelis (50.4 percent) are more pessimistic about the peace after the Camp David summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and U.S. President Bill Clinton failed to reach any agreement in July.
Only 34.2 percent said that they are more optimistic after than before the summit.
Regarding the Palestinians' plan to declare independence, most Israelis (56.3 percent) agree to the Palestinians' right of self-determination in general.
However, when asked "would you agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state whose capital is eastern Jerusalem if this removed the last thing in the way of true peace between Israel and the Palestinians," less than one-third (32.4 percent) of those responded positively.
The fate of Jerusalem, which hosts the holiest sites of both Jews and Muslims, has been the stumbling block in the peace track. Israel claims the city its "eternal and undivided capital," while the Palestinians want at least East Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast war, as the capital of their future state.
The poll also showed that most Israelis doubt Palestinians' sincerity for peace -- 75.8 percent of them think that even if Israel agrees to the establishment of a Palestinian state whose capital is East Jerusalem, a peace agreement will not be easy to be reached as the Palestinians will "come with additional demands."
Majority Israelis (54.2 percent) also prefer to close border between Israel and a future Palestinian state if the two could reach a peace agreement, showing a trend of isolationism.
On another peace front, Israelis who believe there will be peace with Syria in the coming years are more than those who don't believe ( 41.9 percent versus 37.7 percent).
However, only 23.8 percent of Israelis support a full Israeli-Syrian peace treaty in exchange for full withdrawal from the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau which Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast war.
The Israeli-Syrian talks hit a snag in January due to the differences over the withdrawal from the Golan.
Moreover, the poll showed that only 18.3 percent of interviewees think that peace is the most important problem today in Israel. In contrast, 55.4 percent of them think that it should be the internal tension between various parts of the nation and economic and unemployment situation.
It would be a warning signal to Barak, who put the peace process highly on his national agenda.
Barak now only controls one-third seats of Israel's 120-member parliament because of a series resignations by right-wing ruling partners, such as Shas, National Religious Party, and Yisrael Ba'aliya, for their objection to the Camp David summit.
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