76% of Israeli Jews and 62% of Israeli Arabs not believe that negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority will lead in the coming years to peace between Israel and the Palestinians, according to the Peace Index Survey conducted on March 28-30, 2016, for the Evens Program for Mediation and Conflict Resolution at Tel Aviv University and the Guttman Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research of the Israel Democracy Institute.
69% of Jews and 76% of Arabs fear that they or someone important to them will be harmed in the current wave of terror attacks.
The Peace Index –March 2016
(N=600)
28-1/4/2016
- What is your position on conducting peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority?
| % Jews | % Arabs | % General Public | |
| Strongly in favor | 23.4 | 85.1 | 33.7 |
| Moderately in favor | 33.1 | 13.4 | 29.8 |
| Moderately opposed | 16.8 | 0 | 14.0 |
| Strongly opposed | 20.4 | 1.5 | 17.3 |
| Don’t know/Decline to answer | 6.3 | 0 | 5.3 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
- Do you believe or not believe that negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority will lead in the coming years to peace between Israel and the Palestinians?
| % Jews | % Arabs | % General Public | |
| Strongly believe | 4.5 | 9.3 | 5.3 |
| Moderately believe | 17.5 | 24.5 | 18.6 |
| Moderately do not believe | 30.5 | 24.3 | 29.5 |
| Do not believe at all | 45.9 | 37.4 | 44.5 |
| Don’t know/Decline to answer | 1.6 | 4.5 | 2.1 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
- To what extent do you agree or disagree with this sentence: “The state of Israel should belong equally to all its citizens without distinction of age, gender, nationality, or religion”?
| % Jews | % Arabs | % General Public | |
| Don’t agree at all | 20.2 | 4.5 | 17.6 |
| Don’t agree so much | 22.6 | 2.8 | 19.3 |
| Moderately agree | 27.1 | 1.5 | 22.8 |
| Strongly agree | 26.9 | 90.7 | 37.5 |
| Don’t know/Decline to answer | 3.2 | 0.5 | 2.8 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
- To what extent do you agree or disagree with this sentence: “The state of Israel today enables all the citizens of the state, without distinction of age, gender, religion, or nationality, to feel that the state belongs to them equally”?
| % Jews | % Arabs | % General Public | |
| Don’t agree at all | 22.3 | 47.4 | 26.5 |
| Don’t agree so much | 34.0 | 13.5 | 30.5 |
| Moderately agree | 30.5 | 6.1 | 26.4 |
| Strongly agree | 10.1 | 31.5 | 13.6 |
| Don’t know/Decline to answer | 3.2 | 1.6 | 2.9 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
- To what extent do you fear that you or one of the people important to you will be harmed in the current wave of terror attacks?
| % Jews | % Arabs | % General Public | |
| Greatly fear | 32.7 | 47.2 | 35.2 |
| Moderately fear | 36.3 | 28.9 | 35.0 |
| Don’t fear so much | 23.4 | 10.0 | 21.2 |
| Don’t fear at all | 5.5 | 12.9 | 6.7 |
| Don’t know/Decline to answer | 2.0 | 1.0 | 1.9 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
- After the latest terror attacks, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that worldwide terror and Palestinian terror are the same phenomenon and are fed by the same sources. Others claim that they are two different phenomena: worldwide terror is fed by radical Islam while Palestinian terror is fed by the desire to get free of the Israeli occupation. With which position do you agree more:
| % Jews | % Arabs | % General Public | |
| With Netanyahu’s—that worldwide terror and Palestinian terror are a single phenomenon and are fed by the same sources | 64.0 | 13.3 | 55.6 |
| With the position that they are two different phenomena: worldwide terror is fed by radical Islam whereas Palestinian terror is fed by the desire to get free of the Israeli occupation | 29.7 | 65.2 | 35.7 |
| Don’t know/Decline to answer | 6.2 | 21.4 | 8.7 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
- (For Jews only) In his weekly lesson, Sephardi chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef addressed the issue of neutralizing terrorists and said it is a commandment to kill a terrorist who comes at one with a knife. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
| % Jews | |
| Don’t agree at all | 16.1 |
| Don’t agree so much | 13.8 |
| Moderately agree | 22.5 |
| Strongly agree | 44.0 |
| Don’t know/Decline to answer | 3.6 |
| Total | 100.0 |
8: (For Jews only) In your opinion, is it appropriate or inappropriate for rabbis to publicly express an opinion on security issues of this kind?
| % Jews | |
| Very appropriate | 22.8 |
| Moderately appropriate | 18.2 |
| Not so appropriate | 20.0 |
| Not appropriate at all | 33.7 |
| Don’t know/Decline to answer | 5.3 |
| Total | 100.0 |
9: Do you agree or disagree with the opinion that in order to fight terror effectively, one can ignore human and civil rights:
| % Jews | % Arabs | % General Public | |
| Strongly agree | 19.2 | 3.0 | 16.5 |
| Moderately agree | 29.8 | 0 | 24.8 |
| Don’t agree so much | 26.3 | 4.0 | 22.6 |
| Don’t agree at all | 20.1 | 86.1 | 31.1 |
| Don’t know/Decline to answer | 4.6 | 3.0 | 5.0 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
10: With which of the following two claims do you agree more?
| % Jews | % Arabs | % General Public | |
| To fight terror successfully, Israel can only rely on itself and does not need help from international actors | 48.5 | 46.6 | 48.2 |
| To fight terror successfully, Israel cannot rely on itself and needs help from international actors | 47.4 | 40.6 | 46.3 |
| Don’t know/Decline to answer | 4.1 | 12.7 | 5.6 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
11: After the terror attack in Brussels, some ministers in the Israeli government criticized European countries’ capacity to fight terror successfully. In your opinion, was this criticism right and do these countries indeed not know how to fight terror?
| % Jews | % Arabs | % General Public | |
| Very right | 34.2 | 18.3 | 31.6 |
| Moderately right | 34.6 | 28.6 | 33.6 |
| Not so right | 15.7 | 10.1 | 14.8 |
| Not right at all | 7.0 | 17.0 | 8.6 |
| Don’t know/Decline to answer | 8.4 | 26.0 | 11.4 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
12: Whether or not the criticism is right, in your opinion was it right or not right to express it from a diplomatic-international standpoint?
| % Jews | % Arabs | % General Public | |
| I’m sure it was right | 15.0 | 13.4 | 14.7 |
| I think it was right | 28.5 | 17.0 | 26.6 |
| I think it wasn’t right | 29.9 | 22.1 | 28.6 |
| I’m sure it wasn’t right | 17.0 | 19.0 | 17.3 |
| Don’t know/Decline to answer | 9.5 | 28.5 | 12.7 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
- If, in return for help in the fight against terror, international actors demand that Israel not use certain means (for example, targeted assassinations or home demolitions) even though, in the opinion of those responsible for Israeli security, these means are necessary, in your opinion should or should not Israel act in accordance with the international demand:
| % Jews | % Arabs | % General Public | |
| I’m sure it should act in accordance with the international demand | 5.1 | 72.5 | 16.3 |
| I think it should | 11.0 | 9.1 | 10.7 |
| I think it should not | 31.5 | 0.7 | 26.4 |
| I’m sure it should not | 46.5 | 1.3 | 39.0 |
| Don’t know/Decline to answer | 5.9 | 16.4 | 7.7 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
14: If the current situation of violence continues, which of the two societies—Israeli or Palestinian—will in your assessment be able to withstand it longer?
| % Jews | % Arabs | % General Public | |
| Palestinian society | 4.8 | 37.9 | 10.4 |
| Israeli society | 61.9 | 17.3 | 54.5 |
| Both societies are capable of withstanding it a long time | 21.5 | 20.8 | 21.4 |
| Neither of the two societies is capable of withstanding it a long time | 5.8 | 7.7 | 6.1 |
| Don’t know/Decline to answer | 6.0 | 16.2 | 7.7 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
15: Are you for or against cooperation between Israel and Turkey in the fight against terror?
| % Jews | % Arabs | % General Public | |
| Strongly in favor | 23.5 | 33.9 | 25.2 |
| Moderately in favor | 39.9 | 28.5 | 38.0 |
| Moderately against | 14.0 | 11.2 | 13.5 |
| Strongly against | 10.5 | 10.2 | 10.5 |
| Don’t know/Decline to answer | 12.2 | 16.2 | 12.8 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
16: And are you for or against cooperation between Israel and Turkey on other issues, such as trade and tourism?
| % Jews | % Arabs | % General Public | |
| Strongly in favor | 25.5 | 45.9 | 28.9 |
| Moderately in favor | 41.4 | 22.4 | 38.2 |
| Moderately against | 17.6 | 8.7 | 16.1 |
| Strongly against | 9.3 | 9.3 | 9.3 |
| Don’t know/Decline to answer | 6.1 | 13.6 | 7.4 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
17: At the moment it appears that the two leading candidates to be U.S. president are Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party and Donald Trump for the Republican Party. Which of the two, in your opinion, will be a better president from the standpoint of U.S. interests?
| % Jews | % Arabs | % General Public | |
| Hillary Clinton | 42.7 | 13.6 | 37.8 |
| Donald Trump | 24.3 | 12.0 | 22.2 |
| Both to the same extent (do not read) | 4.7 | 45.7 | 11.6 |
| Neither (do not read) | 5.3 | 6.0 | 5.4 |
| Don’t know/Decline to answer | 23.0 | 22.8 | 23.0 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
18: And which will be better from the standpoint of Israel’s interests?
| % Jews | % Arabs | % General Public | |
| Donald Trump | 30.1 | 28.5 | 29.8 |
| Hillary Clinton | 40.3 | 10.1 | 35.3 |
| Both to the same extent (do not read) | 4.2 | 36.4 | 9.6 |
| Neither (do not read) | 4.7 | 3.4 | 4.4 |
| Don’t know/Decline to answer | 30.1 | 21.5 | 20.9 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
19: In your opinion, in the current state of affairs, should Jews be allowed or not be allowed to pray on the Temple Mount?
| % Jews | % Arabs | % General Public | |
| I’m sure they should be | 20.1 | 2.2 | 17.1 |
| I think they should be | 16.0 | 1.8 | 13.6 |
| I think they should not be | 28.5 | 4.3 | 24.5 |
| I’m sure they should not be | 25.7 | 87.8 | 36.1 |
| Don’t know/Decline to answer | 9.7 | 4.0 | 8.7 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
The Peace Index is a project of the Evens Program for Mediation and Conflict Resolution at Tel Aviv University and the Guttman Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research of the Israel Democracy Institute. This month’s survey was conducted by telephone from March 28-30, 2016, by the Midgam Research Institute. The survey included 600 respondents, who constitute a representative national sample of the adult population aged 18 and over. The maximum sampling error for the entire sample is ±4.1% at a confidence level of 95%. Statistical processing was done by Ms. Yasmin Alkalay. http://www.peaceindex.org
{Matzav.com Israel}
