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Majority of Israelis support halting ‘peace talks’ with Palestinians

May 29, 2014 at 10:38 am

Most Israelis support their government’s decision to stop “peace talks” with the Palestinian Authority following Fatah’s rapprochement with Hamas, a recent Peace Index poll conducted by the Israel Democratic Institute shows.

68 per cent of the Israeli respondents polled for the Index believe the decision to stop negotiations was “appropriate”, while 27 per cent do not think the decision was appropriate.

When asked whether or not the Palestinian reconciliation poses a danger to Israel’s security, the Index shows that 58 per cent of Israelis said yes, while 31 per cent do not see it as dangerous.

According to the Index, 56 per cent of Israelis disagreed with US President Barak Obama when he blamed both the Israelis and the Palestinians equally for the failure of the talks because neither side showed the political will to make the difficult decisions necessary to sustain the negotiations. Only 36 per cent of Israeli respondents polled agreed with the US president.

When asked about specific issues related to what were framed as “Israel’s achievements”, 82 per cent of Israelis say they are satisfied with military-security matters, 41 per cent are satisfied with foreign relations matters and 31 per cent are satisfied with socio-economic matters.