Poll Shows Americans Want Jerusalem under Israeli Control
Think Palestinians Don't Want Peace

September 30, 1997

http://www.meforum.org/436/poll-shows-americans-want-jerusalem-under-israeli

For immediate release
Media contact: Amy Shargel, Middle East Forum

Philadelphia, Pa. -- As Israel and the Palestinians agree to resume peace talks, a majority of Americans endorse exclusive Israeli control of Jerusalem and believe that the Israelis are more serious about peace than the Palestinians.

A poll of some one thousand registered voters, commissioned by the Middle East Quarterly and conducted by Arthur J. Finkelstein and Associates, found that, by a nearly 3-to-1 ratio, Americans want the Holy City to be governed by Israel.

The poll posed more than 20 questions on the Israeli and Palestinian peace prcess and related topics to an unbiased mix of voters between September 16-18. Six out of nine respondents indicated that they read about Israel and the Middle East, while one out of nine read about the region a "great deal."

Other poll results:

• Americans believe by a ratio of 3-to-1 that the Palestinians would engage in terror even after the establishment of a Palestinian state.
• By nearly a 4-to-1 ratio, voters believe Israel wants peace more than do the Palestinians.
• Forty percent of Americans polled connect Arafat with terrorism.
• Twenty-seven percent deem Netanyahu more pro-American while only five percent see Arafat as more pro-American.
• A resounding 4-to-1 Americans "have more sympathy" for Israel over the Palestinians.
• Fifty-six percent of the respondents say the Clinton administration's Middle East policies are poor or fair, while only 38 percent rate them good or excellent.

###

receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free mef mailing list This text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original URL.