02 July 2009
Polls Show Vast Support for Two-State Mideast Peace Solution
Opinion polls find support in U.S. and in region for two-state plan
Washington — Opinion polls of Israelis, Palestinians and Americans have found substantial support for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
In the wake of President Obama’s June 4 speech in Cairo and U.S. efforts in the Middle East to achieve peace, four pollsters from the Middle East and the United States briefed congressional staff June 15 about Israeli, Palestinian and American public opinion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a two-state solution and U.S. diplomacy in the region.
The briefing was sponsored by the Arab American Institute, One Voice Movement, J Street, American Task Force on Palestine, Brit Tzedek V’Shalom, Churches for Middle East Peace and the Israel Policy Forum.
Arab American Institute President James Zogby, who also is a prominent opinion pollster, said a poll by his company, Zogby International, found that the majority of Arab Americans (96 percent) agreed that Palestinians have a right to a secure and independent state and 88 percent agreed that Israelis have a right to a secure and independent state. And a majority of all Americans, 67 percent, agree there should be an independent Palestinian state.
Overall, the survey established that while favorable attitudes toward Israel remain strong, pluralities of Americans believe that President Obama should pursue a policy less supportive of Israel than his predecessor. They believe he should “get tough” with Israel on settlements and “steer a middle course between Israel and the Palestinians,” Zogby said.
Additional briefings were provided by One Voice Movement pollsters Nader Said and Mina Zemach. One Voice Movement is an international grassroots effort aimed at amplifying moderate voices in Israel and Palestine. It does so by questioning both Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. The One Voice Movement poll was aimed at identifying “practical working solutions” to the conflict, the pollsters said.
Said and Zemach said the “vast majority” of Palestinians and Israelis support a two-state solution, and believe as well that negotiated peace is essential. Some 71 percent of Palestinians and 77 percent of Israelis feel negotiations are “essential or desirable” and 78 percent of Palestinians and 74 percent of Israelis believe a peace agreement that leads to both states living side by side as good neighbors to be “essential or desirable.”
Jim Gerstein, who conducted a March 2009 J Street poll of American Jews, initiated a discussion of public opinion on Obama’s immediate engagement in pursuit of the two-state solution. He said that Jewish Americans continue to support “assertive American leadership to achieve a two-state solution.” Referring to the J Street national survey conducted by Gerstein/Agne Strategic Communications, he said 72 percent of American Jews agree that a two-state solution is an important national security interest for the United States. One of the J Street survey findings was that “attitudes toward settlements are highly negative,” and “by a 60 to 40 percent margin, American Jews oppose the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.”
