The news media spins it this way: (from AP)
Slim majority of Israelis, Palestinians still favor peace deal
A new poll of Israelis and Palestinians released on Monday found that a slim majority on both sides still favor a peace settlement establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel, despite years of conflict and deadlock in negotiations.But the reality is shown to be different once you look at the actual questions.
The results of the joint poll may provide some small signs of encouragement when peace prospects appear bleak. The last round of negotiations broke down two years ago, and a resumption of talks, much less progress between the sides, at this point seems unlikely.
The poll found that 51 percent of Palestinians and 59 percent of Israelis still support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
While the question about a two-state solution indeed shows that a slim majority of Palestinians support it, what is not being revealed is that they do not see that as the permanent solution.
Other polls have shown that they look at two-states as a stage on the way to destroying Israel. Unfortunately, this poll didn't ask that question. However, what it did show was consistent with that thinking.
It showed that Palestinians do not see a two-state solution as the end of the conflict.
The poll asked a series of specific questions about the parameters of any ultimate peace agreement. One question asked of Palestinians:
Mutual recognition of Palestine and Israel as the homelands of their respective peoples. The agreement will mark the end of conflict, Israel will fight terror against Palestinians, and no further claims will be made by either side. Support or oppose?
57.4% opposed ending the conflict based on the parameters of a basic two-state solution and only 40% supported it.
Interestingly, West Bank Palestinians were even more hawkish than those in Gaza. And 68% of Israelis supported an end to the conflict along those lines.
The headlines say that both Israelis and Palestinians want peace. But a basic analysis of the poll itself shows the truth: Israelis want peace, Palestinians want to keep the conflict going until their ultimate victory.
This is the fundamental fact missing from most analysis of the Israeli-Arab conflict. Palestinians do not want a real, permanent peace, only to grab what they can to stage the next phase of their goal to destroy Israel.
Most polls are written by people who do not even want to accept that as a possibility, so the question is not asked and the headlines can be written based on the very specific, yet ultimately inadequate, questions that were asked.
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