Israelis satisfied with security situation
War and Peace Index shows majority of Jews living in Israel pleased with government's performance in terms of security, but disappointed with its handling of social matters. Fifty-three of Jews back decision to reject Hamas' demands in prisoner exchange deal. Arabs more optimistic than Jews on chances for progress in peace process
Although most Israeli Arabs believe the government's performance is insufficient or even bad in all areas, the ranking of the different fields is similar to that of the Jewish public: The lowest grade was given to the State for its handling of social issues, and the highest grade – for its handling of the security situation.
Voters of Meretz, Habayit Hayehudi and National Union all agree that the government is not performing properly in the security area. Voters of all other parties, on the other hand, are much more satisfied with the government's handling of this field.
In the social field, however, Israelis share the same opinion. Voters of all parties, in all income groups, believe the government is not functioning properly in this area.
Jews and Arabs are at odds over the reason for the relative state of calm in terms of security last year. Fifty-four percent of Jews believe the security forces' activity led to the calm, while 49% of the Arab public say the calm is the result of the Palestinian leadership's decision to reduce violence.
13% expect another conflict this year
What will the security situation look like this year? Fifty-seven percent of Jews believe the situation will remain the same, 19% expect significant progress in the peace process, and only 13% anticipate another violent conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
The Arab public is more optimistic about the peace process, with 35% expecting progress in the peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
The respondents were also asked whether the government did the right thing when it decided, according to media reports, to turn down Hamas' latest demands for a prisoner exchange deal which would secure the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.
Fifty-three percent of the Jewish respondents believe the government did the right thing, while 35.5% believe it should have acted differently and 11.5% said they did not know.
The Jewish public's current stand was significantly different than the common stand in the past few years, when a large majority was in favor of returning Shalit even if Israel would be forced to release terrorists involved in deadly attacks. It appears that as the moment of decisions draws closer, the public tends to trust the government's decisions on this painful matter.
Among the Arab public, on the other hand, 57% of the respondents believe the government was wrong and only 20% believe it was right.
A breakdown of the Jewish public's answers according to gender reveals that while 54% of the men support the government's decision, among the women there is a 41% tie between those who believe the government did the right thing and those who think it was wrong to reject the Hamas offer.
And what do Israel's residents think about the Supreme Court's decision to open Route 443 to Palestinian traffic? Sixty-three percent of the Jews said that the current situation must be maintained and that only Israelis should be allowed to travel on the road. Only 30% supported the court ruling stating that this was a case of discrimination.
A breakdown of the responses according to the way people voted in the elections shows that 100% of Meretz voters and 54% of Labor voters support the Supreme Court's ruling, while most voters of all other parties are against the decision. Not surprisingly, 83% of Arab respondents are in favor of the ruling.
The War and Peace Index is funded by the Evens Program in Mediation and Conflict Resolution at Tel Aviv University. The telephone surveys were conducted by the B. I. Cohen Institute at Tel Aviv University on January 2010 and included 525 respondents representing Israel's adult population (including the Judea and Samaria region and kibbutzim). The sampling for a sample of this size is about 4.5%.
