Poll: 9 out of 10 Jewish Israelis say little chance of deal between Israel, PA

Twelve percent of Israelis think chances for a deal are high, including seven percent among Jews and 35% among Israeli Arabs.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Netanyahu, Obama, Abbas (photo credit: REUTERS/Jason Reed )
Netanyahu, Obama, Abbas
(photo credit: REUTERS/Jason Reed )
Only 7 percent of Jewish Israelis believe there is a strong chance of US Secretary of State John Kerry reaching an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians in upcoming months, according to a poll sponsored by the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University.
The monthly Peace Index poll was taken last week on Sunday and Monday, before Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas turned to United Nations institutions and diplomatic talks broke down amid mutual recriminations.
Twelve percent of Israelis think chances for a deal are high, including 7% among Jews and 35% among Arabs.
The percentage of Israelis who believe chances are low is 87% – 92% among Jews and 62% among Arabs.
Nevertheless, 65% of Israelis favor conducting the talks, including 62% of Jews and 80% of Arabs. Only 31% of Israelis oppose the negotiations, with 25% among Jews and 15% among Arabs opposing them.
When asked whether it was urgent to reach an agreement with the Palestinians, 52% of Israelis said yes and 45% said no. Among Jewish respondents who said reaching an agreement was urgent, 37% called themselves right-wing, 68% centrist, and 87% leftwing.
The poll asked respondents about Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon’s criticism of American foreign policy. Sixty- five percent of the Jewish respondents and 32% of Israeli Arab respondents agreed that US foreign policy showed weakness, while 27% of the Jews and 44% of the Arabs disagreed.
Seventy-two percent of the Israeli Jews said that even if Ya’alon was right in his criticism he should not have voiced it publicly. Jewish respondents were divided equally over whether such comments could significantly damage the political cooperation between the two countries.
Six hundred Israelis providing a representative sample of the adult population were polled. The margin of error for a sample of this size is 4.1 percentage points.