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News :: Israel / Palestine |
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Broad Israeli-Palestinian Support For Geneva Accord |
Current rating: 0 |
by ap via haaretz via gehrig
(No verified email address) |
23 Nov 2003
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As high as the decibel levels get sometimes among the more extreme elements, it's helpful to remember that there is a strong centrist support for peace among both Palestinians and Israelis. |
Poll: Most Israelis and Palestinians support Geneva Accord By The
Associated Press
More than half of Israelis and Palestinians support an unofficial peace
proposal that includes unprecedented compromises for both sides,
according to a poll published Sunday.
The Geneva Accord, worked out by former Israeli and Palestinian
negotiators, calls for the formation of a Palestinian state in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip, the return of Palestinian refugees to that state -
but not to Israel - and the division of Jerusalem between the two
states.
Pollsters read a summary of the agreement to Israelis and Palestinians,
and found that 53 percent of the Israelis and almost 56 percent of the
Palestinians support it. Almost 44 percent of Israelis and 39 percent of
Palestinians said they would oppose such a deal.
The summary did not specifically include the fact that a hotly disputed
site in the Old City of Jerusalem - where the Al Aqsa Mosque compound
sits atop the ruins of the biblical Jewish Temples - would be under
Palestinian sovereignty. Instead, it said, "Each side would govern its
holy sites."
There is considerable opposition in Israel to ceding the site, Judaism's
holiest, in a peace arrangement.
The poll covered 610 Israeli citizens by telephone, and 631
Palestinians, interviewed in person. The poll quoted a margin of error
of four percentage points.
"This poll is a timely reminder of the fact that majorities on both
sides are prepared to embrace an agreement that meets their respective
core aspirations and interests," said Edward Djerejian, a former U.S.
ambassador to Israel and Syria and director of the Texas-based Baker
Institute for Public Policy, which conducted the poll together with the
International Crisis Group in Washington, working for conflict
prevention and resolution.
The group of Israeli and Palestinian officials who worked out the deal
in meetings over two years have been distributing it among their
populations, hoping to win support.
Israel's government has categorically rejected the plan, while the
Palestinian Authority has shown some interest.
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