WASHINGTON, 24 April — “There are only two countries supporting Israel right now: Israel and America,” an American Israel Public Affairs Committee member, Irv Shapiro told journalists yesterday. AIPAC is holding its annual conference in Washington, and, for the first time ever, thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the 3-day conference to protest Israel’s brutal reoccupation of the Palestinian territories.
It appears, however, that Shapiro should have been specific. According to recent polls, the US public is voicing doubts about America’s role in the Mideast, and US support of Israel.
Seventy-one percent of Americans tell a new Gallup Poll that the US government should not take either side in the Middle East conflict and 60 percent want to cut aid to Israel unless its invasion into Palestinian lands ends immediately.
One-quarter of Americans in a new Time/CNN poll said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is an enemy of the United States; 20 percent say he is a terrorist; and 65 percent say he cannot be trusted.
Forty-one percent said Israeli actions in the Palestinian territories are “mostly unjustified.”
And Americans strongly oppose — 71 percent to 20 percent — sending US troops to help end the conflict, because 81 percent fear US troops will be drawn into the fighting.
According to a Washington Post/ABC News Poll published yesterday, 68 percent of Americans think the United States should recognize Palestine as an independent nation. That’s up from 55 percent in October 2001, over 13 percent in just six months.
Asked if Israel “has done all it reasonable can do to try to avoid civilian casualties in Palestinian areas, 61 percent said Israel “should have done more.”
The Washington Post/ABC poll found that many Americans question the motives of both Israel and the Palestinian Authority. More than four in 10 — 43 percent — believe Israel’s goal is to seize control of the West Bank and Gaza.
But the public was equally suspicious of Arafat and the Palestinian Authority: 43 percent said the goal of the Palestinians was to “destroy the State of Israel.”
Few blame Secretary of State Powell or President Bush for the failure of Powell’s recent Mideast mission. The overwhelming majority blamed either the Palestinians (31 percent) or Israel (15 percent) or both sides equally (30 percent), rather than faulting Powell (11 percent).
About half of those interviewed said the United States would withhold military or economic aid from Israel, if Israel continues to defy Bush and refuses to withdraw entirely from the Palestinian areas it recently occupied. Just as many disagreed.
When asked whether the Unites States should give economic aid to the Palestinian Authority if it makes peace with Israel, 47 percent said yes and 47 percent said no.
The survey contained cautious messages for Bush. A small majority — 54 percent — fears that US support for Israel will hurt the broader US-led war on international terrorism.
What remains, perhaps, most significant is the message to US congressmen and the administration — the survey found that support for a Palestinian state has increased 13 percentage points to 68 percent since early October.
Even among those who are more sympathetic to Israel, 63 percent said the United States should formally grant the Palestinians recognition as an independent nation.
