POLL: 76% OF ISRAELI JEWS FAVOR TRANSFERRING ISRAELI-ARABS TO "PALESTINE"

Poll: Israelis favor Arab transfer to Palestine (JPost)
A total of 76 percent of Israeli Jews give some degree of support to transferring Israeli Arabs to a future Palestinian state, a poll commissioned by the Knesset Channel revealed, Monday.

The poll asked participants whether as part of an agreement to establish a Palestinian state there would be justification to demand that Arabs with Israeli citizenship relocate to Palestinian territory.

Only 24% were totally against the idea.

Of the remaining 76%, 29% said all Israeli Arabs should relocate. An additional 19% said only Arabs living in close proximity to the Palestinian state should relocate, and 28% said transfer should be decided based on loyalty or disloyalty to the State of Israel.

POLL: MOST AMERICANS SIDE WITH ISRAEL

Most Americans side with Israel (JTA)
A solid majority of Americans sympathize more with Israelis than with Palestinians, a poll found.

The Gallup Poll published last week found that 59 percent of respondents placed their "sympathies more with the Israelis," with 17 percent sympathizing more with the Palestinians.

The poll also found that Americans were split evenly on whether the Bush administration was doing enough to advance the peace process, with 46 percent agreeing that it is doing enough and 47 percent disagreeing.

That was not a significant change from a year ago, before the Bush administration launched the Annapolis process and Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. secretary of state, started making frequent visits to the region.

Such activity usually is reflected in polls. For instance, in June 2002, when President Bush launched his "road map" peace plan, 61 percent credited him with "doing enough." It's not clear why the administration's current efforts are not registering.

Americans remain pessimistic about the prospects of peace. Only 39 percent believe Israel and its Arab neighbors at some time "will settle their differences and live in peace," compared to 59 percent who do not.

The Feb. 11-14 poll of 1,007 Americans has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

PALI POLL REVEALS DEEP PALI JEW HATRED

Hate That Dares Not Speak Its Name (INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY)
The Mideast: When a poll reveals all but a fraction of Palestinians support the murder of eight innocent Jewish seminarians, it shows a people wedded to evil. It's a short trip from this hate to the kind Hitler espoused.

The West Bank-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, a professional and independent polling agency that surveys Palestinians four times a year, has found that no less than 84% of 1,270 Palestinians questioned by the center in personal interviews said they supported the March 6 shooting inside Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav yeshiva.

The slaughter was carried out by East Jerusalem resident Alaa Abu Dheim, who was himself eventually killed during his attack. All but one of the eight he killed were teens, two of them only 15 years old. Another 11 were wounded.

Pollster Khalil Shikaki was understandably shocked at the results, which also found 75% support for scrapping Israeli-Palestinian talks and 64% support for the Hamas terrorist group's thousands of recent rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip on Israeli towns.

Asked for their preferences for president of the Palestinian Authority, 47% chose Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas while 46% chose their current "moderate" president, Mahmoud Abbas.

But the chilling significance of the poll numbers goes beyond media commentaries about them reflecting "increased tensions." Imagine if more than 80% of some sector of the American public supported an Oklahoma City-like terrorist attack carried out on our soil. It would be viewed as a breakdown of civilization.

And consider the fact that such a large proportion of Palestinians approve of slaughtering of victims who not only were civilians and religious students, but minors. A true slaughtering of the innocents.

The message we get from this is very clear: The vast majority of Palestinians advocate such acts of terrorism against young innocents because the victims were Jews.

Their version of the Final Solution may not entail gas chambers and concentration camps, as Germany's National Socialists did in the last century. But it does apparently include murdering, at random, Jews because they are Jews. Not to say that there was not a clear political purpose behind the choice of target. The Mercaz Harav yeshiva is considered the flagship of the religious Zionist movement, the roots of which date back to a century and a half ago.

Religious Zionism holds that Jews have an inalienable and permanent right to the land of Israel because God bestowed the Holy Land upon the ancient Israelites. The resettling of Israel by Jews and the establishment of a Jewish homeland there, according to its rabbinical supporters, can hasten the coming of the messiah.

Founded in 1924, the yeshiva's alumni include leading Israeli armed forces officers and prominent rabbis. One of them, Rabbi David Stav, said the attack struck the heart of religious Zionism.

"The terrorist targeted a place that symbolizes love for the land of Israel, love for the people of Israel and love for the Torah," he told the Jerusalem Post.

"No Jewish soul can remain indifferent to the horrible thought that a despicable terrorist attacked a group of young men who were busy studying the holy Torah," added Stav, who has taken part in inter-religious activities with Muslim clerics. "Followers of Islam claim they respect the people of the book. But this horrific act proves the emptiness of their claims."

It's one thing for a tribe or nationality to oppose its neighbors, even by war. Arabs can fight the Israeli military, oppose its settlement policies, and even question the very existence of the state of Israel as artificial. But what we're seeing here sinks far beneath that.

What's at issue here is the difference between ordered liberty and barbarism, between humanity and savagery.

The Shikaki poll shows that nearly an entire people support the murder of innocent kids because they're religious Jews. The civilized nations once fought a world war to prevent the global dominance of that kind of hate.

POLL: PALIS SUPPORT KILLING JEWISH KIDS

NEW POLL: "OVERWHELMING MAJORITY" OF PALESTINIANS SUPPORT MURDEROUS RAMPAGES AGAINST ISRAELI SCHOOLCHILDREN, ROCKET ATTACKS AGAINST CIVILIANS (PLUS: IT'S ISRAEL'S FAULT) (mere rhetoric)

Of course it is. This is out of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. They've been producing "the Palestinians really do want peace" media fodder for years. Maybe there's something behind those massive pro-terrorism rallies after all:

A new poll shows that an overwhelming majority of Palestinians support the attack this month on a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem that killed eight young men, most of them teenagers, an indication of the alarming level of Israeli-Palestinian tension in recent weeks. The survey also shows unprecedented support for the shooting of rockets on Israeli towns from the Gaza Strip and for the end of the peace negotiations between Palestinian and Israeli leaders. The pollster, Khalil Shikaki, said he was shocked because... never before, he said, had a majority favored an end to negotiations or the shooting of rockets at Israel... His explanation for the shift, one widely reflected in the Palestinian media, is that recent actions by Israel, especially attacks on Gaza that killed nearly 130 people, an undercover operation in Bethlehem that killed four militants and the announced expansion of several West Bank settlements, have led to despair and rage among average Palestinians who thirst for revenge. Mr. Shikaki’s poll also showed that the militant Islamist group Hamas, which Israel and the United States have been trying to isolate, is gaining popularity in the West Bank

Well, if they're despaired and enraged than surely a genocidal war is the answer. What could be more natural? Although that part about how Fatah's popularity has been plummetting in the West Bank - along with support for negotiations - only since Israel's recent counter-terrorism operations? Yeah, that's pretty much the opposite of true.

References:
* Poll Shows Most Palestinians Favor Violence Over Talks [NYT]
* Hey, How About Having Fatah Support Plummet In The West Bank? [MR]

Previously:
* Teenage Arab-Israeli Girl Arrested For Seeking To Blow Up Jews, Herself
* UN Almost Manages To Kind Of Condemn Yeshiva Massacre. But Not Quite.
* Palestinian Authority Working Overtime To Honor Terrorists

AMERICANS LIKE ISRAEL

More Popular than France

NOAH POLLAK - CONTENTIONS

Gallup just released the latest in its series of polls (see here and here) that track Americans’ opinions on 22 countries around the world. Israel’s popularity–measured as the percentage of respondents who view the Jewish state “very” or “mostly” favorably–has increased to 71 percent, a number not seen since the Gulf War in 1991. The Palestinian Authority’s rating is a stark 14 percent–only two points higher than North Korea’s and six points higher than Iran’s.

There are a couple of interesting things about these numbers. For one, it appears that the recent Walt-Mearsheimer fracas did absolutely nothing to disabuse ordinary Americans of their affection for Israel. Another is the continuing trend of Republicans being significantly more favorably disposed to Israel than Democrats–in the latest survey, Israel is viewed favorably among Republicans by a remarkable 84 percent, compared to 64 percent among Democrats.

ISRAELI-ARABS PREFER ISRAEL TO OWN STATE

Arabs Overwhelmingly Prefer Israel (IRIS)

Here is more confirmation that Arabs deeply resent their 'liberation':

Representative sample 514 Israeli Arabs

"There has been a lot of talk lately about the formation of a new Palestinian State. It has been suggested by some that Israeli Arabs could continue to live in Israel, but change their citizenship to the new Palestinian State. Given the choice, and continuing to live where you presently live today, would you prefer to be a citizen of Israel or of a new Palestinian State?"

Remain Israeli citizens 62% Join a future Palestinian State 14%
No opinion or refused to answer 24%

POLL: 89% OF SAUDIS HATE JEWS

Poll: Saudi approval of U.S. up 29%, support for destroying Israel steady at 51% (HotAir)
The survey was conducted by Terror Free Tomorrow, a nonprofit with more than a few names you'll recognize on its board. Don't be daunted by the size of the PDF; all the gold nuggets come in the first easily scrollable 14 pages, although if you're willing to put in an extra five minutes I'd recommend skipping down to page 48 and comparing the approval ratings of various jihadist groups. Hamas almost but not quite breaks even, but Iraq's Sunni fighters, interestingly, come out negative. I'm guessing it's due to their association with AQI, but you'd think appreciation for Arab nationalist sentiment would have at least broken slightly favorable for them on balance.

A few highlights. Thanks in part to the great majority of 9/11 hijackers having come from the Kingdom as well as its unique religious status within Islam, I've always operated under the assumption that the Saudis were the most radically anti-American population in the Middle East. Not remotely true, as it turns out, although it would have been close to the truth last year, when our approval rating was only 11%. What accounts for the big gain? Fear of Iran, I'm guessing, as well as improvements in Anbar.

Osama and AQ are unpopular, although not as unpopular as they should be:

And then there's this, which speaks for itself. In a separate question, 53% say their opinion of America would improve if we brokered a comprehensive peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Good luck squaring that result with this one:

And finally, an intriguing result. 50.9% of the people surveyed were women; only 38% of all respondents were willing to go on record as disagreeing with the sentence.

I'll leave you with this, from question 24 on page 52, on the subject of which form of government the people preferred. The numbers for monarchy are probably somewhat inflated due to simple fear of being punished for disagreeing publicly with the status quo. The numbers represent strongly or somewhat support versus somewhat or strongly oppose.

Clerical: 40.5% vs. 40.8%
Democracy: 42.1% vs. 39.3%
Monarchy: 79.2% vs. 10.1%
Constitutional monarchy: 48.6% vs. 33.5%

Update: Anne Applebaum says it's time to get serious.

This comparison of Saudi and South African apartheid, and the different Western attitudes to both, has been made before. Recently, journalist Mona Eltahawy argued that while oil is a factor, the real reason Saudi teams aren't kicked out of the Olympics is that "Saudis have succeeded in pulling a fast one on the world by claiming their religion is the reason they treat women so badly." Islam, she points out, does take other forms—in Turkey, Morocco, Indonesia, and elsewhere. But Saudi propaganda, plus our own timidity about foreign customs, has blinded us to the fact that the systematic, wholesale Saudi oppression of women isn't dictated by religion at all, but rather by the culture of the Saudi ruling class.

[T]he women of contemporary Saudi Arabia need a much more fundamental revolution than the one that took place among American women in the 1960s, and it's one we have trouble understanding. Unlike American blacks, it has been a long time since American women grappled with issues as basic as the right to study or vote. Instead, we have (fortunately) fought for less fundamental rights in recent decades, and our women's groups have of late (unfortunately) had the luxury of focusing on the marginal.

MORE ON POLL OF AMERICAN JEWS

Polling Jews by David Hazony (Contentions)
The American Jewish Committee has just released its annual survey of Jewish opinion. A few surprises:

1. Whereas it is commonly believed that American Jews are overwhelmingly liberal, the survey shows a more complex picture, with only 43 percent describing themselves as liberal; 25 percent calling themselves conservative, and fully 31 percent describing themselves as "moderate, middle of the road." They still vote overwhelmingly Democrat, though (58 percent, vs. 15 percent Republican). So either voting is out of kilter with beliefs—or something has clearly happened to the L-word.

2. We have been hearing for years about the thriving of Orthodox Judaism, with its high fertility and low intermarriage rates, at the expense of the Conservative and Reform movements. According to the survey, however, only 8 percent of American Jews describe themselves as Orthodox. The vast majority divide evenly between Reform (30 percent), Conservative (29 percent) and "just Jewish" (29 percent). Chabad, take note.

3. American Jewish support for Israel does not really seem to be waning, or at least not seriously. In 2007, fully 69 percent were willing to say that "caring about Israel is a very important part of my being a Jew." ( Haaretz disagrees.) Post-Zionism hasn't really caught on, has it?

4. American Jews are said to side overwhelmingly with Israel's peace camp when it comes to dealings with the Palestinians. Yet only a slim plurality support a Palestinian state (46 percent, compared with 43 percent who oppose it). And they certainly seem pessimistic when it comes to long-term prospects of peace: Fully 55 percent do not believe that there will ever come a time when Israel and the Arabs will live in peace (as opposed to 37 percent who believe they will one day).

You can read the full report here.

Poll: 82% of American Jews Believe Arabs Seek Destruction of Israel (American Jewish Committee)
According to the 2007 Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion, 82% agree that "The goal of the Arabs is not the return of occupied territories but rather the destruction of Israel," while 12% disagree.

37% can envision Israel and its Arab neighbors settling their differences and living in peace, while 55% disagree.

36% said Israel should be willing to compromise on the status of Jerusalem in the framework of a permanent peace with the Palestinians, while 58% disagree.

The survey, sponsored by the American Jewish Committee, polled 1,000 self-identifying Jewish respondents on Nov. 6-25.

POLL: U.S. JEWISH SUPPORT FOR PALI STATE FALLS

Poll shows drop in Jewish support for Palestinian state (JTA)
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- American Jewish opposition to the Iraq war, concern over anti-Semitism and support for the Democrats has remained steady -- but support for a Palestinian state has dropped. Those were among the findings of this year's annual survey of Jewish opinion released by the American Jewish Committee.

The AJC poll found that 46 percent of American Jews answered affirmatively when asked, "In the current situation, do you favor or oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state?" Forty-three percent said they were opposed and 12 percent were not sure. Last year, the findings were 54 percent in favor, 38 percent against and 9 percent not sure.

What makes the drop more striking is the telephone survey of 1,000 Jewish Americans took place Nov. 6-25, in the lead-up to the U.S.-convened Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in Annapolis, Md.

POLL: SOME PALIS SUPPORT PEACE WITH ISRAEL

Poll: Palestinians in Gaza Support Early Elections, Peace Settlement with Israel
According to a survey of Palestinians in Gaza conducted by Near East Consulting on Nov. 12-14: 77% support early legislative elections (Hamas supporters, 23% vs. Fatah supporters, 99%). If legislative elections were held next week, 54% of Gazans would vote for Fatah, 15% would vote for Hamas. 74% of Gazans support a peace settlement with Israel (Hamas supporters, 33% vs. Fatah supporters, 91%). However, 31% of Gazans believe that Hamas should maintain its position on the elimination of Israel. (Near East Consulting/IMRA)

BUT ON WHAT TERMS? I'M SURE MANY SUPPORT "PEACE" WITH ISRAEL IF BY "PEACE" THEY MEAN ISRAEL'S COMPLETE SURRENDER.

POLL: AMERICANS SEE ISRAEL AS ALLY

Survey: Americans See Israel as Ally - Jonah Newman (Jerusalem Post)
65% of Americans see Israel as an important ally, according to a survey conducted Oct. 6-19, 2007, and released Sunday by the Anti-Defamation League. 45% sympathize more with the Israeli people, compared to 16% who sympathize more with the Palestinians. A similar poll in 2005 showed 42% sympathetic to Israel and 13% sympathetic to the Palestinians, while a 2003 poll was 40% and 15%.  57% of Americans say that Palestinians must end terror and recognize Israel before a Palestinian state can be created. 60% of Americans believe that any peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians must be accomplished with minimal U.S. involvement.

"These findings are reassuring, not only because of continuing strong support for Israel, but because Americans understand that without a major Palestinian effort to deal with terrorism, there can be no viable Palestinian state," said ADL National Director Abraham Foxman.

POLL: 1/4 OF GERMANS SEE GOOD IN NAZI RULE

Poll: Some Germans See Good in Nazi Rule (AP)
BERLIN (AP) - A quarter of Germans believe there were some positive aspects to Nazi rule, according to a poll published Wednesday—a finding that comes after a popular talk show host was fired for praising Nazi Germany's attitude toward motherhood.

Pollsters for the Forsa agency, commissioned by the weekly magazine Stern, asked whether National Socialism also had some "good sides (such as) the construction of the highway system, the elimination of unemployment, the low criminality rate (and) the encouragement of the family."

Forsa said 25 percent responded "yes"—but 70 percent said "no." ....

The poll, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, showed that people 60 or older had the highest regard for aspects of the era, with 37 percent answering "yes."

Those who grew up directly after the war, now aged 45 to 59, were the least enthusiastic about the Nazi era, with only 15 percent responding "yes."

"VANITY FAIR": MAYBE JEWS DO CONTROL THE WORLD

Jewish power dominates at 'Vanity Fair' (JPost)
It's a list of "the world's most powerful people," 100 of the bankers and media moguls, publishers and image makers who shape the lives of billions. It's an exclusive, insular club, one whose influence stretches around the globe but is concentrated strategically in the highest corridors of power. More than half its members, at least by one count, are Jewish.

It's a list, in other words, that would have made earlier generations of Jews jump out of their skins, calling attention, as it does, to their disproportionate influence in finance and the media. Making matters worse, in the eyes of many, would no doubt be the identity of the group behind the list - not a pack of fringe anti-Semites but one of the most mainstream, glamorous publications on the newsstands.

Yet the list doesn't appear to have generated concern so far, instead drawing expressions of satisfaction and pride from the lone Jewish commentator who's responded in writing.

Published between ads for Chanel and Prada, Dior and Yves Saint Laurent, it's the 2007 version of "The Vanity Fair 100," the glossy American magazine's annual October ranking of the planet's most important people. Populated by a Cohen and a Rothschild, a Bloomberg and a Perelman, the list would seem to conform to all the traditional stereotypes about areas of Jewish overrepresentation.

Joseph Aaron, the editor of The Chicago Jewish News, thinks it's a list his readers should "feel very, very good about."

"Talk about us being accepted into this society, talk about us having power in this society," Aaron wrote this week, in apparent reference to Jewish life in the United States. "Talk about anti-Semitism being a thing of the past, talk about Jews no longer needing to be afraid to be visible and influential."

Printed over 15 pages before an interview with Nicole Kidman, the rankings - described on the magazine's cover as the membership of "The New Establishment" - are less than scientific, accompanied by a paragraph-long introduction that neither defines power nor describes the methodology behind the list.

Topping the rankings for the second year in a row is gentile media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who's followed in second place by Steve Jobs, the non-Jewish co-founder of Apple and Pixar.

Highest among the Jewish entries are Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, co-listed at #3, down one from 2006. The article reported that the 34-year-old Brin and his wife "wore swimsuits as they stood under the huppa." (Page, whose mother is Jewish, was described in the spring 2006 edition of B'nai B'rith Magazine as "raised more in the mold of his father... whose religion was technology.")

POLL: PALIS DEPRESSED, BUT NOT OVER "OCCUPATION"

Palestinian Arabs depressed - but not over "occupation" (Elder of Ziyon)

Near East Consulting recently polled Palestinian Arabs on their attitudes, as they do every month.

A whopping 70% described themselves as "extremely depressed" or "depressed." So obviously they must be depressed over that insidious Israeli occupation, right?

Well, not quite:

Main issue that makes you feel concerned:

		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent
	The economic hardship of my household	338	34.7	35.4
	The absence of security for me and my family	193	19.8	20.2
	The internal power struggle	216	22.2	22.6
	The Israeli occupation	76	7.8	8.0
	Family problems	48	4.9	5.0
	I have no concerns	83	8.5	8.7
	Total	954	97.8	100.0

There has always been a major disconnect between the attitudes of real Palestinian Arabs and those of the people who pretend to speak for them - often their power-hungry so-called leaders, but also people of Palestinian Arab descent who moved to the West and and gained positions in academia or other professions where they can trumpet their extreme anti-Israel opinions that are increasingly divorced from how real Palestinian Arabs think. (The same poll in August showed that only 2.6 percent mentioned the Israeli "occupation" as their major concern.)

This has been a consistent pattern over recent decades - the Palestinian Arabs who have enough ambition to get the hell away from the territories are the ones who claim that they can speak for those who have stayed. They live privileged lives in the West as they rail against the Western countries that treat them best. Above all, they are complicit in the crime that allows Arab countries to keep up their apartheid uniquely against Palestinian Arabs, not allowing them to become citizens like any other Arabs.

Not only are Palestinian Arabs being betrayed by their own elected leaders, but they are being kept in misery by their own cousins who left them behind and pretend to speak for them. Because of them, the amount of pressure on Palestinian Arab leaders to truly reform in minimal while they spin their wheels railing against Israel, who the real Palestinian Arabs do not seem to have nearly as much of a problem with.

POLL: MOST ISRAELIS SUPPORT USING NUKES

Poll: Most Israelis support using nukes (JPost)
Approximately 72 percent of Israelis support the use of nuclear weapons in certain circumstances, according to a Canadian survey released recently.

The survey - conducted jointly at the end of July by the Simons Foundation and Angus Reid Strategies - was answered by adults in six countries and showed that 37% of Israelis believed the use of nuclear weapons to prevent a war would be justified, while 35% believed the weapons could be justifiably used during a war.

In addition, the survey found that Israel had the lowest public support for destroying nuclear weapons out of all the countries questioned.

Israel also had the highest percentage in favor of the country using its "power and influence in a way that serves its own interests" - approximately 55% - as opposed to "coordinat[ing] with other countries to do what's best for the world as a whole."

Nearly 72% also agreed that "nuclear weapons place Israel in a unique position, so it is not in our interest to participate in treaties that would reduce or eliminate our purported nuclear arsenal."

About three-quarters of Israelis also said they would feel safer if they knew for certain that Israel had nuclear weapons. Israel has thus far maintained its policy of nuclear ambiguity.

The organizers of the study suggested that Israel accorded greater importance to the nuclear form of defense due to the Iranian threat, Army Radio reported.

The study spanned a sample of 1,000 adults in Britain, France, Italy, Germany and the US along with Israel.

POLL: PALI SUPPORT FOR HAMAS IN GAZA LOW

Poll: Palestinians Disapprove of Hamas Takeover in Gaza
According to a Palestinian poll conducted on Sep. 6-8, 2007, 73% disapprove of Hamas' takeover in Gaza, while only 22% approve. In the aftermath of the developments in Gaza, 62% support new elections. 19% said they trust news from Hamas, 27% trust news from Fatah, and 45% said they trust news from neither side. 71% said they are supportive of the peace process, while 13% say they are opposed to the peace process. (Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research)

See also Poll: Palestinians See Hamas Incapable of Managing Gaza
A Palestinian poll conducted on Sep. 13-15, 2007, asked: Do you think Hamas is capable of managing the affairs of people in Gaza? Yes - 22%, No - 68%. I believe Fatah media - 31%, I believe Hamas media - 14%, I believe neither of them - 42%. (Center for Opinion Polls and Survey Studies - An-Najah University/IMRA)

COLLEGE VIDEO: JEWS DID 9/11

Video: Muslim Student Association Harasses Women and Jews at UTSA (LGF)
This is what the Muslim Student Association is doing on American campuses, in a video apparently shot by an MSA member at the University of Texas at San Antonio using the name “dawahworks.”

The title of the video is: The Missing Hijab 2 & the Jew.

You’re not going to believe this, as he thuggishly harasses a female Muslim student to explain why she isn’t wearing the hijab, and justifies forcing it on all women with quotes from the Koran.
And it gets worse, when he moves on to a Jewish student. The sense of menace is almost palpable.

“What would you think is the biggest accomplishment of the Jews in America? 9/11?”

This is sick and disturbing beyond belief.

UPDATE: Some on-target comments from Jeff G.

THESE NUTJOBS THINK BUSH WAS BEHIND 9/11.

POLL: 80% OF PALIS DON'T TRUST ABBAS OR HANIYEH

Most Palestinians Don't Trust Either Fatah's Abbas or Hamas' Haniyeh - Khaled Amayreh (Al-Ahram-Egypt)
The showdown between Fatah and Hamas continues to poison the collective psyche of the Palestinian people. According to a recent survey conducted by a credible pollster based in Jerusalem, nearly 80% of respondents said they didn't trust either Abbas or Haniyeh.

Last week, a close aide to Abbas intimated to Al-Ahram that up to 22,000 young Palestinians have filed immigration applications, with many citing the depressive aftereffects of the enduring crisis between Fatah and Hamas as their reason for seeking futures elsewhere.

POLL: ISRAELIS SEE NO WAR, NO PEACE AGREEMENT

Poll: Israelis See No War, No Peace Agreement (IMRA/Israel Radio)
Adult Israelis (including Arab Israelis) were asked this week: Do you think that there will be a military conflict in the north in the coming year? Certain yes 23%, Maybe 23%, No/appears no 38%.

Do you think that Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas are capable of reaching an agreement of principles for a permanent agreement? Yes 20%, No 63%.

AFRICAN COUNTRIES SUPPORT ISRAEL

African Countries Support Israel More Than They Do the Palestinians - Amnon Rubinstein (Jerusalem Post)

• What country in the world boasts the highest rate of support for Israel? The Ivory Coast, where 61% support Israel and only 16% support the Palestinians.
• This surprising finding is part of a global opinion survey conducted this year by the PEW Research Center in 47 countries. In Ethiopia, which is half Muslim, the rate is 37%, as opposed to 25% who support the Palestinians. Similar rates can be found in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Even the Muslim country of Mali has a perceptible support rate for Israel - 13% - higher than in Spain and Italy.
• None of the African countries polled, with the exception of Mali, demonstrated opposition to Israel of the kind we find in Britain, where 29% support the Palestinians, as opposed to only 16% percent who support Israel.
• The exception to this rule is Egypt, in which the opposition to Israel is all-embracing and support for Hamas especially high.
• Support for Israel in African countries is exceptionally striking in view of the fact that the global anti-Israel campaign consistently presents Israel as an "apartheid," colonialist and racist country.