Published: 27 January 2023
Last updated: 5 March 2024
A new poll of Israelis and Palestinians shows support for two states has reached a historic low.
A joint Palestinian-Israeli survey has found that support for the two-state solution has dropped to its lowest level since polling on the matter began in the early 2000s.
The pollsters found that support for a Jewish-dominated state has surged among Israeli Jews. On the Palestinian side, the two-state solution still enjoys a plurality of support, but Gaza has replaced the West Bank as the area with the more moderate views.
“Support for a non-democratic regime has overtaken a two-state solution for the first time,” noted pollster Dr Dahlia Scheindlin.
The survey found that support for a two-state solution sank precipitously from September 2020. Palestinians prefer a two-state solution over a Palestinian-dominated state 33-30%, while Israeli Jews prefer a Jewish-dominated state over the two-state solution 37-34%. Less than a quarter of each side supports one democratic state.
Israeli Arabs were more positive on all issues compared to the other two groups, with 60% still supporting a two-state solution.
Underlying attitudes explored in the survey explain some of the psychology behind the hardened attitudes, said Dr Nimrod Rosler of Tel Aviv University. “Both sides see themselves overwhelmingly – 84% – as the exclusive victim, which leads each side to support violent solutions.”
Rosler said 90% of Palestinians and 63% of Israeli Jews believe their victimhood status entitles them to do whatever is necessary to survive. Mirroring each other, 93%on each side see themselves as the rightful owners of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
Rosler said the sense of exclusive ownership is “correlated with low support for reconciliation and low support for joint solutions.”
The poll found that Palestinian support for armed struggle over a peace agreement has strengthened to 40%, versus 31%.
