Poll: Majority of Israelis prefer two-state solution

Smith Research poll shows majority of Israelis fear a bi-national state; youth hold more right-wing positions.

A clear majority of Israelis believe that the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state is Israel’s best chance to remain a Jewish and democratic state in 20 years’ time, a Smith Research/Jerusalem Post poll showed on Monday.

The survey, commissioned by Blue White Future, was conducted among 500 respondents from a representative sample of the adult Jewish population in Israel.

According to the survey, 58 percent of Israelis would prefer to see Israel remain as a Jewish, democratic state through fixed borders along the route of the West Bank security barrier, with Israel preserving its character alongside a demilitarized Palestinian state.

A majority of 62% supports the principle of “two states for two peoples.”

The survey shows that younger people have more right-wing positions than adults, with 69% of respondents aged 50 and above supporting the two-state principle, compared to 63% among those aged 30-49 and 42% of those aged 18- 29.

Furthermore, 25% of those aged 18-29 supported a scenario involving the annexation of the territories without granting full rights to the Palestinians in order to keep the state Jewish and democratic, compared with 16% of those aged 30-49 and 7% aged 50 and above.

Meanwhile, a panel discussion at the Sapir Academic College near Sderot on Tuesday titled “Agreement for Peace” elaborated upon public opinion about the conflict and premises for its resolution.

Prof. Tamar Hermann presented a study carried out by the Israel Democracy Institute, which dealt with the position of the Jewish Israeli public towards peace with the Palestinians.

The research illustrated that such a peace is one of the lowest measured priorities for the Israeli public – with an index of 14.7 in 2012 compared to 56.8 in 1969.

The social justice protests of 2011 had “almost no effect” on the rate of achieving peace with the Palestinians, the study surmised.

MK Arieh Eldad (National Union) commented on the findings, saying the public is “not ready to buy the faulty product we call Oslo [Accords],” adding that partition cannot solve the conflict, which is centered around far more than just territory.