Slim Majority of Israelis, Palestinians Still Favor Two-state Peace Settlement, Poll Says

[Israeli]

Israeli and Palestinian pollsters see numbers as 'not amazingly encouraging' but a suggestion that not all are satisfied with a two-year stalemate in diplomacy.

Josef Federman Aug 22, 2016

AP - A new poll of Israelis and Palestinians released on Monday found that a slim majority on both sides still favor a peace settlement establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel, despite years of conflict and deadlock in negotiations.

The results of the joint poll may provide some small signs of encouragement when peace prospects appear bleak. The last round of negotiations broke down two years ago, and a resumption of talks, much less progress between the sides, at this point seems unlikely.

Tamar Hermann, an Israeli political scientist who conducted the survey with Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki, said that under the current circumstances, the results were "not amazingly encouraging," but also "not discouraging."

The poll found that 51 percent of Palestinians and 59 percent of Israelis still support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
On the Israeli side, 53 percent of Jews support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Among Israel's Arab minority, the number is much higher, at 87 percent. Conversely, just 34 percent of Palestinians and 20 percent of Israelis support the idea of a single shared state where they are both citizens with equal rights.

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