Polls Show Israelis and Palestinians Want Two-State Solution

By Sam Wechsler – Talk Radio News Service

A series of recently released poll results suggest there may be peace in the Middle East in the near future. Nader Said, the General Director for Arab World for Research and Development, shared during a briefing that 78% of Israelis and 74% of Palestinians are willing to accept a two-state solution. He also stated that 95% of Israelis and 92% of Palestinians are willing to accept negotiated peace.

James Zogby, Founder and President of the Arab-American Institute said Arab-Americans and Jewish-Americans agree “on almost every issue, to the degree whereby [their] attitudes are within the margin of error of each other on almost all questions.”

Zogby also stated that the most troubling information he gathered was the partisan split in American opinion over the Arab-Israeli conflict: 70% of Obama supporters in the most recent Presidential election believe the President should “get tough on [Jewish] settlements [in the West Bank]”, whereas 71% of McCain supporters believe the President should not.

Jim Gerstein, Principal at Gerstein Agne, said that in a July 2008 poll, Jewish-Americans were asked what the two most important issues they would be voting on were. Only 8% cited the Arab-Israeli conflict as one of the two most important issues. In addition, 72% of Jewish-Americans approve of President Obama’s approach to the conflict.