NEW YORK – More than 77% of Americans oppose the idea of stationing U.S. troops in Judea-Samaria or Gaza to enforce a future truce between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs, a new poll has found.

Former U.S. Mideast envoy Martin Indyk has said that a U.S., or U.S.-led force should be stationed in the territories. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has proposed that a NATO force, which would include American soldiers, be stationed there.

But the new poll found that 77.3% oppose the proposal; only 12.5% support it.

The poll was conducted on July 14-15 by McLaughlin and Associates, for the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA). A scientifically-selected sample of 1,000 Americans were polled.

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: “The overwhelming majority of Americans recognize that putting U.S. troops in such a dangerous and explosive situation would needlessly endanger American lives, complicate Israel’s efforts to pursue Palestinian Arab terrorists, and put unnecessary strains on the America-Israel alliance. This would harm U.S. interests, Israel’s interests, and the war against terrorism.”