A new poll was released by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs on Tuesday, revealing that a majority of Israelis oppose any Israeli withdrawal from the occupied West Bank, while 79 percent of Israelis believe in the importance of maintaining a unified Jerusalem under Israeli control, in contradiction with longstanding international peace negotiations and international law.
The poll, which was conducted among 521 Jewish Israelis over the age of 18, is said to represent the adult Jewish Israeli opinion on the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
According to the poll’s findings, Israeli support for a military withdrawal from the West Bank, now in its 50th year under Israeli occupation, has gradually decreased in the last 12 years, with the percentage of those supporting a withdrawal as part of a peace agreement declining from 60 percent in 2005 to just 36 percent in 2017.
UN agency to equate Israeli 'occupation' of Palestine to US slavery – Jerusalem Post https://t.co/gSppwWGIgA
— Mustafa Malik (@malik_in_dc) April 4, 2017
When it came to completely withdrawing from the entirety of the occupied West Bank, 77 percent of Israelis opposed such a move. Meanwhile, regarding the withdrawal from the territory — but excluding large Israeli settlements blocs constructed in Palestinian territory in violation of international law — the majority of Israelis (57 percent) still opposed it.
However, opposition to an Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territory slightly subsided (44 percent) if the illegal settlement blocs were annexed into Israeli territory and a future Palestinian state remained demilitarized.
Concerning the Jordan Valley, a crucial area of the Palestinian territory and any future Palestinian state, an overwhelming 81 percent of Israelis said that it was important for the Israeli government to exercise continued sovereignty over the area.
The poll also revealed that Israelis have a committed and long-term expectation of maintaining full security control over the occupied West Bank, with 76 percent of those polled expressing their approval of Israeli authorities continuing to control the West Bank owing to various security concerns.
International law : Palestinians have full right to resist against a violent occupier https://t.co/K8RmpR6myv #israel @vvd @d66 @pvda
— International Law (@InterLaw_Israel) April 4, 2017
Meanwhile, 79 percent of Israelis believe in the importance of maintaining a unified Jerusalem under Israeli control, with 52 percent opposing any division of Jerusalem into “Jewish and Arab sectors.” When the status of occupied East Jerusalem and its potential incorporation into an independent Palestinian state as the capital was added to the questioning, the opposition to dividing Jerusalem increased to 59 percent.
The vast majority of Israelis (83 percent) opposed transferring Al-Aqsa Mosque — known as the Temple Mount among Jews — to Palestinians.
(Ma’an, PC, Social Media)
