An Israeli-Palestinian poll conducted in recent months by Prof. Tamar Hermann of the Israel Democracy Institute and Dr. Halil Shikaki asked Israelis and Palestinians if they would agree to a two-state solution by which Israel would recognize Palestine as the state for the Palestinian people and Palestine would recognize Israel as the state for the Jewish people. Of the Israeli Jews polled, 62.8 per cent agreed. And while only a minority of Palestinians agreed, it was a significant minority – 43.3 per cent. The Palestinian public is more moderate than the positions its leadership expresses on the matter. Israeli Arabs agreed to the idea, contrary to their leaders, by a clear majority of 68 per cent.

I think we can manage leaving out Israel’s national identity in the peace deal. The real question is the right of return. I have a better suggestion for what needs to be said in the preamble of a peace agreement: “The Palestinian side declares – it’s a real shame we failed to wipe out Israel when it was small. It’s a real shame, but because we failed, we understand that the 1948 refugees and their descendants are not returning. And now, if you give us a country based on the 1967 lines with agreed upon territorial exchanges, there will be peace. And the Israeli side declares – we made a deal. That’s the preamble, now the clauses of the agreement.”

Such a formulation provides a stable ideological basis for historic reconciliation between the two peoples. However, the diplomats will certainly seek diplomatic formulae, and the survey’s data provides room for hope that if the substantial disagreements will be solved, it will be possible on this issue to find a formula that both sides will be able to live with.

Read the full article at Haaretz.

Our assessment of the Israeli-Palestinian poll by Professor Tamar Hermann is available to read here.