An overwhelming majority of Israelis support Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s insistence that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state, according to a poll released Tuesday by the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University.
Abbas told The New York Times over the weekend that recognizing Israel as a Jewish state was “out of the question.” Netanyahu told the Likud Beytenu faction Monday that without such recognition there would be no deal with the Palestinians.
As part of a framework agreement with the Palestinians, 77% of Israeli Jews believe it is important that the Palestinians must recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people, while 21% believe it is not important. Divided by political affiliation, 77% of the Right believe recognition is important, 84% of the Center, and 63% of the Left.
Among those who believe recognition is important, 41% said recognition of the basic principle of Zionism was paramount for them, 29% said such a declaration was needed to help Israel counter a demand that it become a “state of all its citizens,” and 19% because it would be compensation for Israel recognizing the Palestinian state as the state of the Palestinian people.
On the flip side, 81% of Israeli Jews oppose allowing a limited number of Palestinian refugees to return to Israel as part of a final peace agreement, and 74% oppose acknowledging partial responsibility for Palestinian suffering, such as the refugee problem.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman’s proposal for land swaps divided the Jewish population, with 51% in favor of the proposal and 43% against it. According to his plan, Israel would annex settlement blocs while giving the Triangle (a concentration of Arab towns and villages) and Arab-populated parts of the Galilee to the Palestinian state as part of a peace agreement.
However, 86% of those surveyed believe that chances that Liberman’s proposal would be accepted by the Palestinian Authority are low.
The survey of 609 respondents who constitute a representative sample of the adult Jewish population of Israel was taken last Tuesday and Wednesday. The measurement error for a sample of this size is 4.5%.
I sincerely hope the local Arabs NEVER recognize Israel as the Jewish state. Because as long as they are hostile, Israel has the excuse Jews think they need to take more Arab land for the use of the Jewish nation. Real peace, or anything that pretends to be such, therefore weakens the Jewish nation.
Any of you commenters think I am perverse? You probably are right. But learn to think things out to their ultimate outfall. That way you never will be surprised. Maintaining the rights of nationhood makes wars all but inevitable. The only thing of importance is that you win these wars every time, and that the Jewish state and Jewish nation takes from our enemies their lands, their resources, their rights, and even — and especially — their sense of manhood. Otherwise you will be fighting repeated wars over the same patch of land incessantly.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
I’m in favor of transferring every Israeli Arab to “Palestine.”
But there is zero chance of that happening just as there is zero chance the Palestinian Arabs will ever recognize Israel as a Jewish State.
The peace process is dead and not even Kerry’s fiddling around with it can bring it back to life.
“Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman’s proposal for land swaps divided the Jewish population, with 51% in favor of the proposal and 43% against it. ”
As the arabs have a vote I do not see how polling the Jews alone on this issue has any meaning as to whether Israel will approve it.
“Poll: Huge majority of Israelis believe Abbas must recognize Jewish state”
what will happen if the pals come up with a “recognition”? this recognition issue has replaced security and, more importantly, the Jewish right to the ownership of YS as the most important issue. Jews being fooled by a meaningless declaration to give up land.
BB’s will claim a victory when the pals appear to be “unwillingly” goaded into giving “recognition”. A bunch of words will be concocted that will save the “peace”. The Jews will sell YS for a couple of meaningless sentences that depend on the word of a perennially untrustworthy people.
BB has pushed jewish rights to the land of YS to last position. What an accomplishment. The Jews will laud him for his astute performance.
Its interesting to see how people are manipulated by propaganda and media. The indians who sold Manhattan for 24$ in trinkets were a smarter tribe, at least they got something tangible.