Wednesday, May 07, 2014

Peace Gets 9% Support

From the latest Peace Index:

The desired national order of priorities: Among the five issues presented to the interviewees, highest on the scale of priorities is reducing the socioeconomic gaps (47%); after it comes creating housing solutions at affordable prices (21%). In other words, the public prefers the two issues of a socioeconomic nature (69% combined) over the other three issues, all of which belong to the security-political area: increasing Israel’s military power (10%), improving its diplomatic status in the international arena, and achieving a peace agreement with the Palestinians (9% in both cases).

And more:

As for the developments on the Palestinian issue:
The risk posed by the Fatah-Hamas agreement: A considerable majority of the Jewish public (57.5%) sees the reconciliation agreement that was signed between Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas as very dangerous or moderately dangerous for Israel. Likewise, 57.5% reject the claim that the reconciliation makes Abbas’s representation of the Palestinians more inclusive and, therefore, if an agreement with Israel is signed it will be more valid.

The halt in the negotiations with the Palestinians: Given these views, it comes as no surprise that a large majority (68%) of the Jewish public backs the government’s decision to stop the negotiations with the Palestinians in response to the reconciliation agreement. ... At the same time, the public is divided on whether the freeze in the negotiations is beneficial or harmful to Israel in the short term and the long term, with slightly more seeing it as more harmful both in the short (41%-36%) and long (40%-34%) terms. 

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