Israeli-Palestinian Poll Shows Support for Two-state Solution at All-time Low
Support for a nondemocratic regime has overtaken a two-state solution for the first time,’ says pollster Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin, while Dr. Khalil Shikaki says the joint survey shows ‘it’s becoming a tougher challenge for leaders to find public support for peace
By Steven Klein | Haaretz
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 percent – as the exclusive victim, which leads each side to support violent solutions,” he observed. He described this justification as a sense of “moral entitlement.”
Rosler said 90 percent of Palestinians and 63 percent of Israeli Jews believe their victimhood status entitles them to do whatever is necessary to survive. Mirroring each other, 93 percent on each side see themselves as the rightful owners of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. They also negate the other’s claims to the land (93 percent of Palestinians and 68 percent of Israeli Jews).Rosler said the sense of exclusive ownership is “correlated with low support for reconciliation and low support for joint solutions.”.
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