(12/03/07) -

Some Palestinians Willing to Share East Jerusalem

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Among the potential proposals that a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians could bring, the partition of East Jerusalem faces the least opposition in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, according to a poll by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion. 40.6 per cent of respondents would accept putting living quarters inhabited by Arabs in East Jerusalem under Palestinian jurisdiction, and annexing Jewish quarters to Israel. Still, 52.7 per cent of respondents reject this proposal.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Among the potential proposals that a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians could bring, the partition of East Jerusalem faces the least opposition in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, according to a poll by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion. 40.6 per cent of respondents would accept putting living quarters inhabited by Arabs in East Jerusalem under Palestinian jurisdiction, and annexing Jewish quarters to Israel. Still, 52.7 per cent of respondents reject this proposal.

Less than a third of respondents express support for preliminary proposals related to borders in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the status of old Jerusalem, the presence of Israeli soldiers in the Jordan Valley, and the right of return.

The former British mandate of Palestine was instituted at the end of World War I, to oversee a territory in the Middle East that formerly belonged to the Ottoman Empire. After the end of World War II and the Nazi holocaust, the Zionist movement succeeded in establishing an internationally recognized homeland. In November 1947, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the formation of a Jewish state.

In 1948, the British government withdrew from the mandate and the state of Israel was created in roughly 15,000 square kilometres of the mandate’s land, with the remaining areas split under the control of Egypt and Transjordan. Since then, the region has seen constant disagreement between Israel and the Palestinians, represented for decades by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Wars broke out in the region in the second half of the 20th Century, involving Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt.

Around 750,000 Palestinians fled or were forced to leave their territory during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. An independent Palestinian state is considered the main provision of the road map for peace in the Middle East, developed by The Quartet, which includes the United States, the UN, the European Union (EU) and Russia.

Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas is currently heading the Palestinian Authority from the West Bank, endorsed by Israel and most of the Western international community. Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas has become the de-facto leader in the Gaza Strip.

Abbas and leaders from the United States, Israel, several Arab countries and other nations met last week in the U.S. in a conference about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Abbas and Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert committed to have a full peace agreement in place by the end of 2008.

On Nov. 27, at the beginning of the conference, Abbas talked about what is necessary to implement a real peace agreement and create a Palestinian state, saying, "We need East Jerusalem to be our capital, and to establish open relations with West Jerusalem." The Palestinian Authority president also called for an end to the "occupation of all Palestinian lands since 1967, including East Jerusalem, as well as the Syrian Golan and occupied Lebanese territory."

Polling Data

Do you support or oppose each of the following items should there be in the near future a public referendum on a peace agreement with the Israelis?

East Jerusalem – Living quarters inhabited by Arabs in East Jerusalem should be put under the Palestinian jurisdiction, the Jewish quarters to be annexed to Israel.

Jordan Valley – The Israeli settlements in Jordan Valley would be dismantled, but the Israeli army would remain in the Jordan Valley area for the period of five years, after which—should calm reign over the said region during this period—the Israeli forces would be replaced by international forces.

The right of return – Presuming that the Palestinian State would take up the Palestinian refugees, Israel, with other countries, would establish an international fund for the compensation of those refugees, who want to return under the Palestinian jurisdiction and can’t return to their original homeland in Israel.

West Bank and Gaza Strip – Israel would keep 4 per cent of the West Bank and Gaza Strip area, which contains 80 per cent of the Israeli settlements. As an exchange for that, Israel would offer the Palestinians 2 per cent of its land adjacent to Gaza Strip.

The Old City of Jerusalem – Upon dividing the Old City of Jerusalem between Israel and the Palestinians, Israel would keep the "Wailing Wall" (Western Wall), the Jewish and the Armenian quarters. A special arrangement would be made for the area of the Temple Mount (area of Al-Aqsa Mosque).

Source: Palestinian Center for Public Opinion (PCPO)
Methodology: Face-to-face interviews with 1,025 Palestinian adults in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, conducted from Aug. 26 to Sept. 1, 2007. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.