62% of Israelis do not consider the West Bank ‘occupied’

Fifty years after the occupation, the majority of the Israeli Jews do not consider the West Bank an occupied territory, Arabs48 reported yesterday.

According to the results of the monthly peace index issued by Tel Aviv University, 91 per cent of Arabs in Israel believe that the Israeli existence in the West Bank is an occupation.

The index showed that 44.4 per cent of the Jews support annexation of the West Bank to Israel, while 45 per cent object to such a measure.

Meanwhile, 79.5 per cent of Arabs in Israel object to the annexation, while 11.5 per cent support it.

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Some 50.8 per cent of the Jews believe that building Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank is a step in the right direction, while 31.3 believe it is a hindrance.

Among the Palestinians, 86.6 believe that building settlements is a big mistake and harms Israel’s national interests, 86 per cent believe that settlements are an obstacle to peace, while 38.2 per cent do not agree.

The index showed that 27 per cent of the Jews see that Israel should have proposed leaving all occupied territories in return for a comprehensive peace agreement, while 65.1 disagreed.

According to the index, 65 per cent of the Jews believe that the occupation of the West Bank serves Israel’s security and military interests, but it harms its diplomatic, economic and democratic stance before the international community.

Just over 50 per cent of Jewish respondents believe Israel should annex all the territories it occupied in 1967, including the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula to Israel.