New Poll Finds Public Even-handed on Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Confounding their 'representatives' in Congress, Americans turn out to be more even-handed on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict than most of those inside the Beltway expected. The following poll results, gathered by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland (www.pipa.org), offer some very surprising findings.
Among these: clear majorities think American policy has favored Israel and that the US should withhold aid to both Israelis and Palestinians if they fail to agree to a ceasefire and return to the negotiating table . "Only 17% of Americans see Israel's conflict with the Palestinians as part of its war on terrorism." Most Americans think "Israel has not only been trying to root out terrorists but also has been trying to punish the general Palestinian population." "A strong majority (62%) believes that Israel's actions have increased the likelihood of further suicide bombings," while "Americans also overwhelmingly reject suicide bombings as as a legitimate form of resistance (76%)." Most Americans surprisingly want the US to cooperate with the UN and other nations in achieving a resolution, with 77% agreeing to a US role in a UN-sponsored peacekeeping force.
The poll of 801 randomly selected Americans was conducted on May 1-5, and has a 3.5-4% margin of error. Both the Israeli Embassy and the Palestinian mission to the UN were consulted in devising polling questions.
