Arabs riot near security fence, Gaza
Arabs riot near security fence, GazaIsrael news photo: Flash 90

A new poll shows that a majority of Israelis are opposed to further withdrawals from Judea and Samaria. In a poll taken by the Geocartographia organization on behalf of Ariel University, the majority of Israelis said that peace was not possible because of the refusal of the Palestinians to compromise on a political settlement. According to the poll's analysts, the refusal has turned the Israeli public more right-wing.

As a result, the majority of Israelis support the government's decision to suspend peace talks with the Palestinians. That support, the poll found, was exacerbated by the recent decision by the Palestinian Authority to reconcile with Hamas and include it in the PA government. While more Israelis than ever expressed right-wing views on the matter, the dwindling number of leftists were also solidifying their positions, and demanded that Israel continue the talks, despite the agreement.

The Israeli population is split almost evenly on the idea of the “two state solution.” About half see it – resulting from either a negotiated settlement or unilateral Israeli action – as the only solution to “the conflict,” while the other half does not belief a Palestinian state will, under current circumstances, solve anything. With that, the poll showed an incremental but clear increase in the latter attitude, again resulting from the frustration of Israelis with the Palestinian's endless demands. Those demands mean that “peace” as the Palestinians see it, a large majority of Israelis believe, is far different from the Israeli conception of peace.

Most Israelis also do not believe that Israel can rely on international guarantees to ensure that a peace treaty is observed. The more right a respondent's views, the less s/he was willing to rely on those guarantees.

The poll also asked respondents for their opinion on the “price tag” phenomenon, in which Jewish youths scrawl graffiti or slash tires in Arab towns in response to terror attacks. About a third consider these attacks to be as bad as terror attacks, a third justify them, and a third belief that while they may be justified, they are damaging to Israel and must be stopped. Here too, the more left a respondent's beliefs, the less they were likely to approve of price tag attacks.

The majority of Israelis consider the international media to be pro-Palestinian, presenting almost exclusively the Palestinian side of things, while most Israelis consider the local media to be more fair. However, about a third of Israelis – mostly those on the “hard right” - say that the Israeli media is just as “pro-Palestinian” as the international media. However, many on the left, as well as on the right, agreed that the international media was almost completely pro-Palestinian.

The poll of 500 Israelis representing a cross-section of the Jewish public in Israel was taken over the past several weeks, the polling organization said.