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Peace Process

Most still oppose withdrawals

Israeli national consensus for retreat non-existent


By Ryan Jones
February 15, 2006

So much for broad public support for additional unilateral withdrawals from the Land of Israel.

Yet another public survey carried out among a random sampling of Israelis has shown that a majority continues to oppose relinquishing their ancient and biblical patrimony to the nation's Arab foes.

This time the poll was conducted by Geocartographia on behalf of Army Radio, with the now familiar results released Monday.

Like the Zionist Organization of America-commissioned Maagar Mohot survey a week earlier, the numbers revealed a 50 percent majority of Israelis do not support the platform of Ehud Olmert's Kadima Party, which advocates the uprooting of tens of thousands of Jews from Judea and Samaria.

The poll further showed that 68 percent of Israelis feel Olmert and his predecessor and mentor Ariel Sharon failed miserably in caring for the Jews of Gaza and northern Samaria after throwing them out of their homes. Forty-six percent believe the ?disengagement? caused a deep rift in Israeli society.

Seemingly contrary results were provided by Israel's Yediot Ahronot Hebrew daily following a poll it paid the Dahaf Institute to conduct last week.

According to headlines in Israel's largest daily newspaper, 59 percent back further unilateral withdrawals, while only 37 percent oppose.

But media analyst Aaron Lerner pointed out the stark contrast in the questions presented to respondents during the different surveys.

The wording chosen for the Yediot Ahronot poll went something like:

?Should Israel separate from most of the Palestinians also by unilateral withdrawals??

Lerner notes:

?People hearing the question being read rapidly on the telephone heard 'Should Israel separate from most of the Palestinians' - and answered in the affirmative without their reply meaning that they thought their reply mean that they supported unilateral physical withdrawals.?

The ZOA poll was a bit more thorough, asking:

?Are you for or against significant unilateral withdrawals from Judea and Samaria if after the elections it becomes clear that the PA doesn't fight terror and it is not possible to advance in accordance with the Road Map.?

Leaning on the results of the more poorly worded surveys, Olmert has declared his intention to sever Israel's biblical heartland from the modern Jewish state enjoys widespread support.

Sharon made identical assertions prior to cleansing Gaza and northern Samaria of their Jews, but at that time too Lerner and other analysts decried the less-than-informative polls the prime minister cited as ?proof.?

A privately funded survey conducted during the months leading up to disengagement found that 90 percent of the thousands who participated opposed leaving Gaza and northern Samaria.

Yekutiel Ben Ya'akov, who launched the initiative, explained the discrepancy by pointing to the alternative wording of his poll, which provided respondents with an alternative to national retreat - annexation of all Judea, Samaria and Gaza and expulsion of hostile Arab populations.

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