Only 19% of Israeli Jews now believe a Palestinian state can peacefully coexist with Israel

JTA - The share of Israeli Jews who believe an Israeli and a Palestinian state can peacefully coexist has plummeted since Oct. 7, according to a new survey.

The figure of 19%, reported in a study published Thursday by the Pew Research Center, was the lowest since Pew started surveying Israelis in 2013. It is down from 32% in a survey released just weeks before the war broke out.

In 2013, according to Pew, nearly half of Israeli Jews — and a majority of Israelis overall — supported a two-state solution. In 2005, another polling firm found that most Israeli Jews supported the establishment of a Palestinian state.

This year, a quarter of Israeli adults overall — including nearly half of Israeli Arabs  — believe a Palestinian state and Israel can peacefull exist side-by-side. That takeaway is one of a number from Thursday’s Pew survey that show Israelis hunkering down for more conflict as the Israel-Hamas war is about to enter its eighth month. The survey of roughly 1,000 Israeli adults was taken in March and April — before Israel’s invasion of the Gaza city of Rafah and other recent developments — and has a margin of error of 4%.

The survey also shows wide gaps between Jewish and Arab respondents. Among Arab Israelis, for example, 74% say “Israel’s military response against Hamas in Gaza has gone too far.” Only four percent of Jewish Israelis agree.

And while 76% of Jewish Israelis say Israel will achieve its goals in the war, only half as many Arab Israelis, 38%, say the same.