POLL REVEALS MORE PALESTINIANS NOW FAVOR TWO-STATE SOLUTION

According to HAARTEZ:

Some 63 percent of the Palestinians support the proposal that after the establishment of the state of Palestine and a solution to all the outstanding issues - including the refugees and Jerusalem - a declaration will be issued recognizing the state of Israel as the state of the Jewish people and the Palestinian state as the state of the Palestinian people. Some 35 percent of the Palestinians oppose such a declaration. In June 2003, 52 percent supported such a proposal, and 46 percent were opposed.

Some 54 percent of the Palestinians support a two-state solution on the basis of the 1967 lines, with border corrections and no massive return of refugees, confirming that there has been a change in Palestinian public opinion since the death of Yasser Arafat.

Those findings in a comprehensive public opinion poll among 1,319 respondents conducted at the end of December contrasts with a similar poll done in December 2003, which showed only 39 percent of the Palestinians supported an agreement with Israel. And a parallel poll, conducted in Israel among a representative sample of Jewish and Arab voters, showed that 64 percent are now in favor of a permanent peace agreement compared to only 47 percent who supported such a deal in a similar poll last year.

If the poll is accurate, it represents progress and the basis for hope. I pray so.

The poll has many fascinating results; RTWT!