83% say Arab state should be all Israel/W. Bank/Gaza

A new survey of Palestinian opinion has found that an overwhelming 85% of Palestinians would oppose a peace settlement with Israel signed by the Palestinian Authority (PA) if it entailed Palestinian compromise on key issues such the legally baseless, so-called ‘right of return’ of Arab refugees and their million of descendants; Jerusalem; borders; and Jewish communities in Judea & Samaria, whereas only 12% of Palestinians would accept such a peace agreement. The survey by the Ramallah-based Arab World for Research & Development was conducted during October 20-22, 2010.

The survey also revealed that an overwhelming 83% of Palestinians desire, in any final resolution, a single, Arab-controlled state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea (i.e. Israel, Judea, Samaria and Gaza), while 65% deem it to be an absolutely essential element of any peace settlement.

Also, according to the survey, a ‘One State Solution’ in which “Israelis and Palestinians share power and are equal citizens” is unacceptable to 45% of Palestinians, while only 22% of Palestinians regard a Palestinian state living alongside Israel as essential to a final resolution (Arab World for Research & Development opinion poll, November 9, 2010).

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “This poll is important because it goes into greater detail than usual as to what Palestinians think about negotiating a peace agreement with Israel. It is therefore quite clear from these results – as well as that to be found in several earlier polls of Palestinian opinion – that the vast majority of Palestinians do not accept Israel’s existence under any circumstances. Even the so-called ‘one state solution’ is not at all supported if it requires equal rights and equal power for Jews.

“It could scarcely be clearer that the bulk of Palestinians want an Arab-dominated Palestinian state on all the territory of Israel, not a peaceful polity of their own alongside Israel.”