JERUSALEM: Israeli voters are divided on whether the Jewish state should accede to US President Barack Obama’s demand to stop settlement building and accept a Palestinian state, a newspaper poll showed yesterday.
In answer to the question: “Should Israel accept Obama’s demands or reject them and risk sanctions?” 40 percent of respondents said Israel should be prepared to risk Washington’s wrath and not heed Obama’s call, made in Egypt on Thursday.
Fifty-six percent said Israel should fall in line with US demands. That number, however, likely includes people from the 20 percent of Israeli citizens who are Arabs and who favor Palestinian statehood and oppose settlement building in the West Bank.
At odds with Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said construction would continue in existing settlements and has not publicly endorsed a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In explaining the poll in the mass circulation Yediot Ahronot newspaper, correspondent Sima Kadmon said: “Pride is an honorable trait, but not at the expense of a dispute with the master.” The poll queried 501 respondents representing a cross-section of the Israeli population. It said 53 percent thought Obama’s policies toward Israel were bad, while 26 percent said they were positive. It also showed that Israelis are about equally divided on Netanyahu’s performance as prime minister since his right-leaning coalition took power in March, with 47 percent saying he is succeeding and 45 percent saying he is failing in office.
