Survey: Support for Israel and Palestinian State.

By Barbara Schoetzau (VOA-New York)

A new opinion poll finds that Americans remain strong supporters of Israel despite five months of violence in the Middle East. The public opinion survey, which was commissioned by major Jewish organizations in the United States, also finds support

The new poll indicates that two-thirds of Americans view Israel favorably, while only 18 percent say they have a favorable view of the Palestine Authority. Three out of four of those surveyed blame the Palestinians for causing the current violence in the Middle East.

But, two-thirds of those polled believe the Palestinians should have a sovereign state of their own, alongside Israel. Forty-eight percent of American Jews agreed. A slim majority, 51 percent, of Americans think Israel should divide Jerusalem with the Palestinians, although only 33 percent of Jewish Americans think so.

Two polling firms conducted the survey, interviewing 1,400 people across the United States. One of the pollsters, Zev First, says the survey found no erosion of support for Israel among a cross-section of Americans. "This poll tells me across-the-board among elites, among the American public, among influential Americans -- and in foreign policy - it is the elite community and the influential American community that have a major say - Israel has a bedrock of support," he said. "The Palestinian Authority, notwithstanding five months of horrendous images on television, which none of us are comfortable with, you still have a five-to-one margin among the various communities that agree more with the Israeli position."

Four major American Jewish organizations commissioned the poll to explore U.S. attitudes toward Israel. Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said American Jewish leaders were concerned that the turmoil in the Middle East was undercutting American support for Israel.

Foxman said the results of the survey should have a calming influence on concerned American Jews. But he also said the poll indicates areas of weakness, where Jewish groups have to do a better job educating the public. "I think the most disturbing," he said, "is that here Israel had already given 40 percent of the West Bank to the Palestinians, that 90 percent, or 95 or 97 percent of the population, lives under Palestinian authority, and the majority of the American people were not aware that so much territory had been returned and that, in fact, 95 or 97 percent of the Palestinians do not live under occupation."

Three-quarters of those polled say they follow the news from the Middle East closely or somewhat closely and 37 percent call the current situation in the Middle East the most important foreign policy issue facing the new Bush Administration.