More than two thirds of Israeli Jews support the government's decision to suspend negotiations with the Palestinian Authority after Fatah and Hamas signed a unity deal, according to a poll published Wednesday by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) and Tel Aviv University.
The monthly Peace Index poll found that 68% of Israeli Jews believe the decision made by the security cabinet two weeks ago was appropriate, while 27% disagree with the move.
When asked about US President Barack Obama's assessment that neither Israeli nor Palestinian leaders showed the political will to make difficult decisions to sustain negotiations, only 39% of Israeli Jews said they agreed that both sides were equally responsible for the negotiations' failure. The percentage disagreeing with Obama was 56%.
Fifty-eight percent of Jewish Israeli respondents said the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation agreement was dangerous. The same number said the unity deal would not increase legitimacy for decisions made by the Palestinian Authority.
Thirty-one percent said the unity deal was not dangerous and 34% said it would add legitimacy to the PA's decisions.
When asked to cite which of the following should be the most important goal for the government to promote today, 68% gave socioeconomic-related responses. Forty-seven percent prioritized reducing socio-economic gaps and 21% cited the creation of affordable housing solutions.
Only ten percent chose strengthening Israel’s military power, nine percent said improving Israel’s political status in the international community and nine percent reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians.
Asked about Israel’s achievements in the first 66 years of the Jewish state, 76% said they were satisfied while 23% were not. Eighty-two percent said they were satisfied with military-security achievements, 41% were satisfied on foreign relations, and 31% on socio-economic matters.
Seventy-three percent said they were optimistic about Israel’s future in the coming years, while 24% were pessimistic. The optimists included 77% of the self-identified Right, 77% of the Center, and 58% of the Left. Regarding their personal future, 85% called themselves optimistic and 11% pessimistic.
If given the opportunity to move to a different country, 80% of Israeli Jews would continue to live in Israel, while 17% would move to a different country. Those committed to staying include 93% of national-religious Israelis and 73% of secular Israelis.
The survey of 600 respondents constituting a representative sample of the adult Jewish population of Israel was conducted April 28-29, in the days after the Palestinian unity deal was initialed. The maximum measurement error for a sample of this size is 4.1%.