71% of Americans Also Oppose
Creating a Palestinian Arab State
NEW YORK – A new poll has found that by a 2-to-1 margin, Israelis oppose the creation of a Palestinian Arab state.
The poll, carried out on February 25, 2003 by the respected Geocartography polling firm (at the request of the Ariel Center for Policy Research) asked: “In light of the experience that has accumulated since the Oslo agreements, do you support or oppose a Palestinian state?” 61% said they oppose creating such a state; only 31% said they support it.
The results are consistent with two other recent polls taken in Israel by the respected Hanoch Smith Institute and sponsored by the Zionist Organization of America. A November 2001 poll found 68% of Israeli Jews believe that “regardless of the size or strength of a Palestinian state, if one is established it will constitute a threat to the State of Israel.” A June 2002 poll found 80% of Israeli Jews oppose the proposal for Israel to withdraw to the 1967 borders and create a Palestinian Arab state in the vacated territories.
A February 2003 poll of the American public found similarly overwhelming opposition to creating a Palestinian Arab state. A new national poll of 1,000 Americans by the respected polling firm of John McLaughlin and Associates found that by a margin of 71% to 13%, Americans oppose the creation of a Palestinian Arab state. By 61% to 19%, Americans believe that the goal of such a state would be Israel’s destruction.
The poll found that by a margin of almost six to one, Americans oppose creating a Palestinian Arab state; by a margin of almost seven to one, Americans oppose U.S. aid to the Palestinian Arabs; by a margin of four and a half to one, Americans want Palestinian Arab killers of Americans handed over to the U.S. for prosecution; by a margin of more than three to one, Americans believe that the Palestinian Arabs’ goal is the destruction of Israel; by a margin of more than two to one, Americans believe that a Palestinian Arab state will be a terrorist state; and by a margin of three to one, Americans say that world leaders should not meet with Palestinian Arab officials such as Abu Mazen, Yasir Arafat’s second in command, who have denied or distorted the Holocaust.
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: “These comprehensive surveys, done by leading pollsters in Israel and the United States, show that the vast majority of Israelis and Americans understand that a Palestinian Arab state would be a terrorist state that seeks Israel’s destruction. President Bush’s support for creating a Palestinian Arab state is clearly at odds with the views of the vast majority of Israelis and Americans.”