The latest polls out of Israel and the United States show that the vast majority of Israelis and Americans who have an opinion support the creation of an independent Palestinian state. Nevertheless, when President Barack Obama spoke at the United Nations on Wednesday, he rejected calls for the U.N. to recognize an independent Palestine.

 

A survey by 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 in Ramallah found that 69% of Israelis believe their government should go along with the United Nations if it recognizes a Palestinian state.

 

However, 79% of Israelis and 77% of Palestinians predict that the administration of President Barack Obama will use the U.S.’s veto power on the UN Security Council to prevent the admittance of “Palestine” as a UN member.

 

More Americans favor (42%) than oppose (26%) their government recognizing Palestine as an independent nation, even though their sympathies lie more with Israel than with the Palestinians (40% vs. 10%).

 

The large number of Americans with no opinion about Palestinian statehood (32%) is probably due to the fact that the debate on the subject at the United Nations has received little coverage in the U.S. media. Although the issue has received major coverage outside the United States, the Pew poll revealed that a majority of Americans had heard nothing about it.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Poll: 70% of Israelis Say Israel Should Accept UN Decision (Jerusalem Post)

Palestinian Statehood: Mixed Views, Low Visibility (Pew Research Center for the People and the Press)

U.S. Foreign Aid to the Palestinians (by Jim Zanotti, Congressional Research Service) (pdf)