Poll: 75% of Israeli Jews oppose return to '67 borders
Poll by rightwing think tanks claims that contrary to popular belief and recent polls, majority of Israelis oppose withdrawal to 1967 borders; note shift among leftists.
According to a poll conducted from October 12-14 by the Shivukim-Panorama research institute for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA), 74% of Israeli Jews oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 lines, while 76% oppose a Palestinian state if it means the division of Jerusalem. In addition, 75% of Israeli Jews oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state if it means Israeli withdrawal from the Jordan Valley.
Most notably, 52% of Israelis who identify with the left political spectrum, oppose the replacement of the IDF with international forces in the Jordan Valley.
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) is considered a rightwing think tank, and was founded by Dore Gold who served as an advisor for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former prime minister Ariel Sharon.
One the other hand, a recent poll by the pro-peace Geneva Initiative held in mid-September found that 53% of Likud voters and 58% of the general Israeli public believed Netanyahu should embark on a peace initiative that would lead to a two-state solution.
The poll, conducted for the Geneva Initiative by the New Wave Research Institute showed that only 33% percent of the respondents oppose such an initiative and 9% responded that they did not have a clear opinion on the matter. Two-thirds of the Israeli public (66%) believed that if a peace agreement is not reached in the next few years, a violent conflict will erupt between Israel and the Palestinians, a view that was especially predominant amongst young Israelis.
However, when asked directly about an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders with land swaps and the settlement blocks remaining in Israel, the partition of eastern Jerusalem, and the return of a symbolic number of Palestinian refugees a majority of respondents opposed most of the individual principles, but a plurality supported the package as a whole (46% supporting, 33% opposing and 20% without a clear opinion).
Islamic State effect
According to the JCPA, the rise of the Islamic State in the Middle East has made the Israeli public less willing to agree to territorial concessions in Judea Samaria, with 17% of those polled saying that they are less ready for concessions.The pollsters surveyed 505 Israeli Jews representing the right, center, and left ideologies.
The JCPA Director of Publications, Lenny Ben David told Tazpit News Agency that the poll must also be looked at in the context during the time in which it was taken. "Israelis who were surveyed for the poll did so following the past summer war, the murder of three Israeli teens and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's verbal attacks on the state," he told Tazpit.
"On a general level, the majority of Israeli Jews are opposed to the return of the 1967 lines. But when the concept of a Palestinian state also involves Palestinian concessions, like right of return and an end to terror, then Israeli public perception changes," he told Tazpit.
Ben David also commented on the perspective held in regard to the Jordan Valley. "Israelis have always been consistently against international forces such as NATO or the US, patrolling the Jordan Valley. The public doesn't have much faith in the UN or international forces, especially based on recent events in Syria."
Last month, the United Nations evacuated hundreds of peacekeeping forces from Syria's side of the Golan Heights to Israel during September due to threats emerging from the escalating Syrian civil war.
On the Palestinian end, An-Najah National University in Nabulus conducted a poll among 1,360 Palestinians from Gaza and Judea and Samaria last month from September 11-13 and found that Hamas's popularity increased among Palestinians while support for PA President Mahmoud Abbas decreased. In regard to Palestinian presidential elections, Hamas daily Al-Resalah reported that "27% said they would vote for the Hamas runner, while 25.6% said they would vote voted for a Fatah runner."
According to the Al-Resalah's report on the poll, "76% of Palestinians demanded the Palestinian resistance fire rockets into Israel." The poll also showed that 49% of those surveyed favored an armed intifada against Israel as opposed to 44% who were against it.
