Israelis overwhelmingly skeptical peace can be reached with Palestinians

(TNND) — Israelis are increasingly skeptical that they can achieve lasting peace with Palestinians, a new survey from the Pew Research Center showed.

Only 21% of Israelis think Israel and an independent Palestinian state can peacefully coexist.

That’s a 14-percentage point drop from before the Israel-Hamas war began.

Just 16% of Jewish Israelis think their country can find peace with Palestinians.

Meanwhile, 40% of Arab Israelis believe a two-state solution is possible.

The survey was conducted in Israel in February and March, before the last ceasefire with Hamas ended in late March.

The sides have yet to agree on a fresh ceasefire, much less an end to the war.

Hamas, which sparked the war with the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, still holds 58 hostages, both living and dead.

Ned Lazarus, a teaching associate professor of international affairs at George Washington University and a teaching fellow at the nonprofit Israel Institute, said Israeli support for a two-state solution was already eroding before the Hamas attack.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his political allies on the right spent years pushing against the idea of a Palestinian state.

“The popularity of that had declined significantly,” Lazarus said. “In the last 10 years, it had gone from a consistent majority of support among Israelis to smaller and smaller pluralities and then minorities. And then you see the dramatic effect of the October 7th attack and the more than a year and a half of war that has followed.”

Now, Israeli Jews have an “existential fear and total mistrust” of Palestinians, he said.

“No trust in the idea that they can be safe, that they can coexist, that the Palestinians will not use territory, any territory, they control to attack them again,” Lazarus said.

Attacks by Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iran have also fueled that fear.

Lazarus said Israeli Jews have a growing sense of isolation. And the rise of antisemitism around the world has reinforced their fears.

Lazarus said the international community generally favors a two-state solution.

There are some religious Israelis who oppose a Palestinian state on ideological grounds, Lazarus said.

But the majority of Israelis are worried about their security.

The Pew Research Center said the 21% of Israelis who think Israel and a Palestinian state can peacefully coexist is a new low in its tracking.

The Pew Research Center said a slim majority of Israelis believe their people are committed to working toward lasting peace, while just about 40% said they believe the Palestinian people are committed to reaching a lasting peace.

Three-quarters of Israelis said a lack of trust between the two sides is a major obstacle to peace.

The survey also found Israelis see obstacles to peace in disputes over Jerusalem, the West Bank, and conflicts between the left and right in Israeli politics and between Hamas and Fatah on the Palestinian side.

Lazarus said the Gaza war overshadows disputes over Jerusalem, a city that both Israelis and Palestinians claim as their capital, and the West Bank.

The Gaza war would need to be resolved and the remaining hostages released before the Israeli public could arrive at the political place needed to negotiate two capitals in Jerusalem or the withdrawal of Israeli settlements from parts of the West Bank, Lazarus said.

“Well, those are huge issues when you do have a peace process, meaning when there were negotiations in the 1990s and 2000s, those were two … of the very difficult issues. And if we did get back to a negotiation process, those would be two of the very difficult issues. But we’re not even in a negotiation process,” he said.

How long will the Gaza war last?

Lazarus said that’s a tough question.

Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition are “out of step” with the majority of the Israeli public on ending the war, Lazarus said.

Most Israelis want the war to end as long as the hostages are released, he said.

Netanyahu, fighting for his political survival and appeasing conservative allies, wants to continue the war, Lazarus said.

Hamas, meanwhile, is resisting a ceasefire because it wants guarantees that the war will end.

If Netanyahu loses power or is pressured more by President Donald Trump to end the war, then that could hasten the end of the war, Lazarus said.

But he said the more likely scenario now is that Israeli or U.S. pressure forces Hamas to give in on its demands so that another temporary stoppage in fighting can take place.