(JTA) – Support for a two-state solution among Israelis and Palestinians has dropped to a record low following years of a moribund peace process and several rounds of violent military confrontation. According to a new poll conducted by Tel Aviv University and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) in Ramallah, only 43 percent of Israelis Jews and Palestinians are in favor of such a negotiated end to the conflict, a decline of 9 and 8 points since 2016, respectively. Support for a two-state solution has been steadily eroding among Jews and Palestinians for a decade, the pollsters noted, although among Israeli Arabs support has largely remained “stable and very high” at 82 percent.
A total of 2,150 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and 1,600 Israelis were polled on their views of a hypothetical peace deal consisting of a de-militarized Palestinian state, an Israeli withdrawal to the Green Line with equal territorial exchange, family unification in Israel of 100,000 Palestinian refugees, West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, the Jewish Quarter and the Western Wall under Israeli sovereignty and the Muslim and Christian quarters and the al Haram al Sharif/Temple Mount under Palestinian sovereignty, and the end of the conflict and claims. Only 37 percent of Palestinians and 39 percent of Israeli Jews stated that they supported such an agreement. The poll had a margin of error of 2.5 percent.
“Large majorities on both sides believe the other side is untrustworthy. The perceived lack of feasibility and the lack of trust are closely connected to opposition to the plan. Findings also show a net decline over the last two years in the percentage of Israeli Jews and Palestinians who think the other side wants peace,” the pollsters reported.