- A new opinion poll shows that a rising majority of Israelis
favors removing large numbers of settlements in the context of a future
peace accord with the Palestinians, and that Israelis feel more secure
and open to compromise than they did in 2002, Israel Radio reported Monday.
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- The poll, conducted by Tel Aviv University's Jaffee Institute
for Strategic Studies, showed that 59 percent of the Israeli public is
willing to remove all settlements located outside major settlement blocs,
the radio said. The figure represents a rise from 50 percent who expressed
such willingness in a parallel survey taken last year.
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- Asked if they would support a unilateral withdrawal from
the territories in the context of a peace accord, even if that meant ceding
all settlements, 56 percent said that they would, versus 48 percent last
year.
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- At the same time, respondents reported a greater feeling
of security with respect to last year. Asked if they feared a war breaking
out with Israel's neighbors in the next three years, only 34 percent said
that they expected such a conflict, a drop of more than 50 percent from
respondents who answered yes to the same question in the 2002 survey.
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- A full 75 percent of respondents said they believed that
soldiers should not have the right to refuse evicting settlers from unauthorized
outposts. The same percentage said soldiers should not have the right to
refuse service in the territories.
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- <http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/301630.html>http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/301630.html
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