Dozens of Palestinians on Monday demonstrated in front of the United Nations headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah to protest what they say failure of global organizations to pressure Israel to free hunger-striking prisoner Bilal Kayed.
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The majority of Palestinians and Israelis both blamed the collapse of talks on the other side, the survey found.
In confrontations with unarmed Palestinian youth, Israeli forces used “lethal, live ammunition, plastic-coated metal bullets (PCMBs), and large amounts of tear gas”.
More than half of all Palestinians and Israelis are in favor of a two-state solution to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a recent poll has found.
Hagit Ofran of the anti-settlement group Peace Now said it was the first approval in the area in more than a decade.
“It showed there is still some basis for optimism with the right leadership”, Dr. Hermann said, as reported by the Associated Press.
Jewish residents of Hebron say the land is private property that belonged to Jews before the establishment of the state in 1948, according to Haaretz.
Yishai Fleisher, a spokesman for the Jewish community of Hebron, welcomed expanding the settlement, saying it “would be good news for the Jewish community here”.
There is a high level of distrust and fear on both sides and both sides believe there is little chance for an independent Palestinian state. The number is much higher for Israeli Arabs, at 87 percent. Conversely, just 34 percent of Palestinians and 20 percent of Israelis support the idea of a single shared state where they are both citizens with equal rights. There is frequent friction between the sides, and the city has been a flashpoint of violence during almost a year of fighting.
“I am anxious – it underlines the fact that there is a diminishing level of support on the Israeli side for the mere substance of peace”, Elias Zananiri, a former journalist who is today the Deputy Chair of the PLO’s Committee for the Interaction with Israeli Society, told The Media Line. The poll found that 65 percent of Israelis fear Palestinians. Some 1,270 Palestinians and 1,184 Israelis were interviewed for the study.
Hermann added that the recent spate of violence had stunned Israelis who had been more insulated from the conflict than Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. If the agreement includes a wider or regional Arab-Israeli peace, one quarter of Palestinians and Israelis would change their mind and support a deal. She also said that Israeli political – by depicting Palestinians as “utterly hostile” – contribute to the omnipresent atmosphere of tension and fear.
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After two decades of failed peace efforts, and almost a year of sustained low-level violence, distrust is very high, according to the poll, which interviewed 1,270 Palestinians and 1,184 Israelis in June. It was conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute, where Hermann is a senior fellow, and Shikaki’s Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research.
