As published in The Jewish Week (New York)

Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf and Steve Masters claim that “every poll conducted has shown that an overwhelming majority of American Jews supports a U.S.-brokered peace initiative between Israel and the Palestinians” (“Let Us Not Remain The Jews Of Silence,” Jan. 11). They evidently did not consult the 2007 American Jewish Committee poll, which showed that American Jews believe (55 percent to 36 percent) that current U.S.-brokered negotiations will not lead to peace and that 81 percent of American Jews agree that “The goal of the Arabs is not the return of occupied territories but rather the destruction of Israel.”

Nor are Wolf and Masters correct when they claim that a “a clear majority of Israelis and Palestinians … want a negotiated two-state solution.” A May 2007 Dahaf Institute poll for the Knesset Channel found that 53 percent of Israelis oppose withdrawals from Judea and Samaria even in return for a “real peace.” A March 2007 INSS (previously Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies) poll also showed that 71 percent believe that the Palestinian Arabs’ goal is destroying Israel, not a peaceful Palestinian state alongside Israel and that only 28 percent of Israelis supporting the “land for peace” formula, while 58 percent oppose it.

As for the Palestinians, a February 2007 Near East Consulting poll showed that that 70 percent of Palestinian Arabs support a one-state solution in which Jews would be a minority.

Can we take seriously Wolf and Masters when they display an inability to get the basic facts right?

National President
Zionist Organization of America
Philadelphia