The Jewish Labor Committee has said it opposes the rule as it would mainly affect the tens of thousands of Palestinians living in the West Bank who are employed by Israelis, particularly on farms in the Jordan Valley. Hermann says there’s still some basis for optimism “with the right leadership”. The poll also found that 44% of Palestinians prefer a multilateral forum in which world powers sponsor negotiations in comparison to 27% of Israeli Jews.
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Many Palestinians see Israel’s democracy (68 percent) and overall situation (49 percent) as good, and their situation as bad (29 percent in the West Bank and 72 percent in the Gaza Strip). “Unfortunately, the process is stagnant, and there needs to be efforts as long as there is an initiative from the Israelis, Palestinians, other countries in the region, and the global community”.
Despite the continued deadlock, a new Israeli-Palestinian poll released Monday showed that a narrow majority on both sides still favor a peace settlement that would establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
The Israeli military says it has uncovered an illegal Palestinian weapons manufacturing network during an operation in the West Bank.
A minority of Israeli Jews and Palestinians (39 percent) back the deal, along with a whopping 90 percent of Israeli Arabs. He also calls the land “at least partially owned by the Palestinians”.
After two decades of failed peace efforts, and almost a year of low-level violence, distrust is strong.
Al-Quds and al-Ayyam reported Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as stating Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to receive Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for direct talks in Moscow. The poll found that 89 percent of Palestinians feel Israeli Jews are untrustworthy, while 68 percent of Israeli Jews held similar opinions toward the Palestinians.
Hermann said she was surprised by the higher fear level on the Israeli side, and cited a number of factors. Israel says the weapons’ crackdown is making it harder and more expensive for Palestinian assailants to acquire guns.
“The only images the average Israeli, and I suppose the average Palestinian, gets are the negative ones”, she said.
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Appelbaum said the new regulation, if not revoked, would “reinforce a social and political regime in the West Bank that enforces one set of laws for Israelis and another, inferior, set of regulations for Palestinians”.
