Most Israelis, plurality of Palestinians still favor two states – poll

A majority of Israelis and a large plurality of Palestinians continue to support a two-state outcome to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

According to the survey by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research and the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research at Tel Aviv University, the survey, continued throughout December 2016 among a relatively large sample of 1,270 Palestinians and 1,207 Israelis, a two-state solution remains the preference of some 55 percent of Israelis and 44% of Palestinians.

In their Thursday publication of their findings, the researchers note that this marks a drop from a comparable poll conducted in June 2016, in which 59% of Israelis and 51% of Palestinians supported two states.

Even with the decline in the second half of 2016, the option remains by far the front runner among both groups. Respondents were also offered the options of a one-state conclusion to the conflict, and a confederacy of some sort between an Israeli polity and a Palestinian one. Both of these alternatives put together won just 28% of Israelis and one-third of Palestinians. Only Israel’s Arab citizens gave majority support to an alternative outcome to the two-state solution.