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Peace Process

Americans: No more Israeli withdrawals


By Ryan Jones
September 29, 2005

Americans have little faith last month's removal of Gaza's Jews will lead to peace between Israel and the "Palestinians," and even less confidence the Bush Administration's push for a 22nd Arab state on ancient Jewish lands will achieve that goal.

A recently published public opinion poll conducted by Harris Interactive asked a random sampling of 2,242 Americans if they felt Israel's ?disengagement? increased the chances for Middle East peace.

Only 36 percent said yes, while 64 percent either said no or were unsure.

A 36 percent majority, however, was sure that Israel should not ?give up more land in the 'West Bank' to the Palestinians in exchange for lasting peace.?

On Wednesday senior Israeli officials said unilateral disengagement may by necessity become an official Israeli strategy, in the ongoing absence of a reliable peace partner.

?If we see, over time, that the impasse continues, then, even though Israel's diplomatic situation is comfortable, we might consider turning the disengagement into an Israeli strategy,? Eyal Arad, an aide to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, told a gathering at Herzliya's Interdisciplinary Center.

?Israel would determine its borders independently,? he said, by withdrawing from most of Judea and Samaria and annexing the large settlement blocs there.

On Thursday Sharon attempted to put that rumor to rest, insisting Israel was now fully committed to proceeding with the US-initiated Road Map peace plan.

?We have no better plan for the future of Israel,? the prime minister told an economic conference.

But that Road Map, and US President George W. Bush's insistence that Israel follow it to the birth of Palestine, has, according to the Harris Interactive poll, not found favor among most Americans.

A full 70 percent of his fellow Americans had a negative view of Bush's efforts to solve the Israeli-Arab conflict by dividing the biblical Land of Israel between Jewish and Arab states.

Prior to Israel's departure from Gaza, then Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu tried to tell a July 3 cabinet meeting that nixing the pullout and retaining control of the Jews' ancient homeland would have the backing of the American public, and thus eventually the administration too.

A poll conducted at the time showed 63 percent of Americans opposed the disengagement, and 50 percent felt it rewarded years of unrelenting ?Palestinian? terrorism.

Americans' strong support for Israel's right to its land grows out of their deeply rooted Christian heritage, a fact Netanyahu had tried to draw attention to amid the scorn of his secular leftist cabinet colleagues.

It was the ?Christian Right? that by and large put Bush in office, and the president's support among that sector traditionally dips every time the White House is seen to be taking a more pro-Palestinian stance in its Middle East policies.

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