Surprising support by Palestinians for confederating with Jordan, Egypt

There is a new AWRAD survey of "Palestinian opinion leaders, " defined this way:

423 Palestinian opinion leaders participated. They include political party leaders, civil society leaders, high-ranking government and private sector officials,journalists, youth activists, and professionals such as academics, researchers, consultants, doctors, engineers and lawyers.

40% of those polled believe protests will continue for years; 45% believe that they will continue only weeks or months.

57% give the biggest external reason for the protests as being "threats to the status of holy places in the Old City of Jerusalem." But 70% give the most important internal factor as being "Frustration with Palestinian leadership in both the West Bank and Gaza." (The pollsters fudged the first part of that poll by saying "97% think that threats to the status of holy places, settlements and closures are driving the protests" - that "and" should be an "or.")

Not too many are optimistic about the results of the current uprising being positive for the Palestinians. A majority believes that it makes a Palestinian state less likely, that Israel will increase use of force and that Israel will establish new settlements in response.

75% support the statement that the Palestinians are no longer bound by the Oslo agreements. No doubt, they believe that Israel still is.

A majority believe that ending security cooperation with Israel would serve Palestinian interests.

81% felt that personal freedoms and democratic processes have declined over the past few years.

These answers surprised me, though:

For one thing, this shows that West Bank Palestinians are more hawkish than their Gaza counterparts.

But for 23.5% of those  who oppose a two-state solution, their alternative is not getting rid of Israel - but to become part of Jordan and Egypt!

Yes, that is only 8% of those polled, but I've never even seen this question ever being asked before. And it is a solution that Israel could be interested in, even if Egypt and Jordan don't seem to want it at this time.

If that idea gets that much support when no one is talking about it, imagine how much support it could get if the seeds are planted in people's minds?

---

We are doing everything we can to fight for Israel with hard work, research and - above all - the truth. I could sure use your help. Please donate today. If you have other skills you can volunteer for EoZ, send an email to volunteer@elderofziyon.com

---