Poll: Majority of Israelis back peace plan that guarantees security

2 separate polls find that 2/3 of Israelis would vote for peace accords, including more than 1/2 of Likud Beytenu and Bayit Yehudi supporters.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

About two-thirds of Israelis would vote in favor of a peace agreement with the Palestinians if a deal which took Israel’s security concerns into account was brought to a referendum, two polls conducted on behalf of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace found.

Abbas and NetanyahuThe Dahaf Institute poll found that 67% of  Israelis say they would support a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians if it takes into account Israeli security concerns.

The deal in question would be a two-state solution providing for a demilitarized Palestinian state without an army and Israel as the state of the Jewish people.

Palestinian refugees would have a right of return to the Palestinian state only as part of the agreement.

Borders would be based on the 1967 lines with agreed upon land swaps, with the large settlement blocs remaining under Israeli sovereignty.

Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem would be under Israeli sovereignty and Arab neighborhoods under Palestinian sovereignty. The Old City within the walls would be without sovereignty and  jointly administered by the United States, Israel and the Palestinians. The Holy Places would be under the same religious supervision as current arrangements (for example, the Kotel would be under Israeli supervision and responsibility).

Overall support for the deal was identical to that found in Dahaf polls asking the same question in 2011 and 2010.

The poll found that the percentage of Israelis supporting the deal was higher if certain principles were added to the base agreement, such as a US guarantee of Israel’s security as a Jewish state (70%) and the disarmament of Hamas as a condition to the implementation of the deal (74%).

The study showed that a small majority of  Likud Beytenu (57%) and Bayit Yehudi (53%) voters would support such an agreement while Labor and Tzipi Livni Party voters would overwhelmingly support such a deal (92%).

The study interviewed a representative sample of 500 people.

A Smith Consulting poll found similar support for such an agreement (68%).

The Smith poll found higher support for the agreement among adults over the age of 50, among the secular and the Arab sector and among those with higher levels of education.

The Smith Poll was conducted among a representative sample of 600 people.

 

View original Jerusalem post publication at: http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=297885