This is the clear conclusion drawn from the latest public opinion survey conducted under the auspices of the Harry S.Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research.

The March joint Israeli Palestinian poll focused on the main political outlines for a final status Palestinian- Israeli agreement. Those surveyed were asked whether they preferred a solution of two states for two peoples, a binational Palestinian-Israeli state, or a Palestinian-Israeli confederation.

The results were as follows:

• 71% among Israelis and 57% among Palestinians supported the “two-state solution,” namely the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside of Israel.
• Compared to the two-state solution, only 24% of the Israelis and 29% of the Palestinians supported the solution of a binational state, in which Israel is unified with the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to establish one state in which Palestinians and Israelis would have equal rights.
• The third outline for a political settlement is a two states for two peoples solution, with joint political institutions which will lead eventually to a confederation of the two states. Only 30% of the Israelis and 26% among Palestinians supported this solution.

In recent months the idea of a binational state has increasingly been put forth as a solution. However, it would seem to be impossible to implement this option given the strong opposition to it in the two publics.

• Palestinians and Israelis also understand that the most difficult solution to implement is the bi-national state solution: 38% of the Israelis and 42% of the Palestinians think so. Fewer respondents, think so about the two-state solution (29% and 32% respectively), and even less (21% and 18% respectively) believe so about the confederation.

The Palestinian sample size was 1270 adults interviewed in person in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in 127 randomly selected locations between March 4-6. The margin of error is 3%. The Israeli sample includes 501 adult Israelis interviewed by phone in Hebrew, Arabic or Russian between March 1-10. The margin of error is 4.9%.

The Joint Israeli-Palestinian Poll is supported by the Ford Foundation (Cairo) and the Adenauer Stiftung (Jerusaelm and Ramallah). The poll was planned and supervised by Prof. Yaacov Shamir of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace and the Department of Communication and Journalism at the Hebrew University, and Prof. Khalil Shikaki, director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR).

For further details on the Palestinian survey contact PSR director, Prof. Khalil Shikaki or Walid Ladadweh, at tel. 02-2964933 or email pcpsr@pcpsr.org. On the Israeli survey, contact Prof Yaacov Shamir at tel. 03-6419429 or email jshamir@mscc.huji.ac.il. This joint survey was conducted with the support of the Ford Foundation Cairo office and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in Ramallah.