A new poll has shown that large majorities of Israeli Jews oppose concessions to Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah/Palestinian Authority (PA) over symbolic recognition of the legally baseless Palestinian demand of the ‘right of return’ and comprehensive Israeli withdrawal from Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem.
The poll, released by the Israeli Democracy Institute and conducted during July 27 – 30 July, 2013, found that:
- 62.5% of Israeli Jews oppose a comprehensive withdrawal from Judea, Samaria and much of Jerusalem with land swaps;
- 58% opposed evacuating even relatively minor Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria (Israelis have always assumed that the major Jewish cities of Ariel, Maale Adumim and the large concentration of Jewish communities contained in what are called ‘settlement blocs’ of Judea and Samaria would remain under Israeli control in any future peace agreement that might one day emerge).
- 50% of Israelis oppose transferring control over Arab-majority neighborhoods of Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority (PA), with a special arrangement for the Jerusalem holy places.
- 62% of Jewish Israelis – and, perhaps surprisingly an even larger proportion of Israeli Arabs (72%) – believe that any decision to uproot Jews from Judea and Samaria should be brought to a national referendum. (‘The Peace Index: July 2 2013,’ Israel Democracy Institute, August 6, 2013).
ZOA National Chairman of the Board Dr. Michael Goldblatt said, “This latest poll confirms strongly the results of numerous other polls (several of which the ZOA listed here) showing that Israelis do not support the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state under current conditions; do not trust the PA leadership and therefore oppose concessions to them even in return for signed agreements; and that they also oppose totally freezing Jewish construction in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem.”