Posted on 05/16/2004 2:10:06 PM PDT by Land_of_Lincoln_John
Nearly 70 percent of Israeli Arabs accept Israel's right to exist within the 1967 Green Line as "a Jewish and democratic state in which Jews and Arabs live together," according to the findings of a 2003 survey directed by Prof. Sammy Smooha, of the University of Haifa's Department of Sociology and Anthropology.
Smooha, who heads the Index of Relations Between Jews and Arabs in Israel project, also revealed that a large minority of Arabs (37.7%) accept the Zionist principle of Israel's right to preserve a Jewish majority.
The survey further revealed that only 13.4 per cent of Arabs would be prepared to live in a future Palestinian state.
The index, which is conducted under the auspices of the university's Jewish-Arab Center, is a new project under which it is hoped to carry out biannual surveys. The results would then be compared to the findings of previous surveys, conducted by Smooha since 1976, to give a long-term perspective on relations between Jews and Arabs.
For the 2003 poll, a series of new questions was formulated in order to assess any changes in trends and of attitudes among Jews and Arabs on a variety of issues. These included questions relating to willingness to integrate into Israeli society, stereotypes, alienation, threats and fears, how each side views the legitimacy of the other, solutions to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, collective identity, cultural autonomy, representation of the Arab leadership, means of struggle, and the current state of relations between Jews and Arabs.
Some of the findings were unveiled by Smooha at a national conference at the University of Haifa last Thursday and was attended by leading academics dealing with Jewish-Arab relations.
Smooha told the conference that the findings of surveys between 1976 and 2003 contradict the prevailing belief among the general public, decision-makers, and academics of growing alienation between Jews and Arabs that would inevitably lead to violence between the two sides.
Regarding the violence, Smooha noted that the majority of Jews and Arabs felt seriously threatened by the other side and a majority of Jewish interviewees in the recent survey said they avoid entering Arab communities.
A total of 702 Jews and Arabs were interviewed in last year's survey. The margin of error was 3.7%.
They undoubtedly see Arafat for what he is, a terrorist. And they don't want to live in a PLO-run "Mad Max" society.
Expect the New York Times to run this piece tomorrow.sarcasm
'67 borders, huh? Sounds like the sentiments of a fifth column to me.
Give the Golan back to Syria and Israel is through.
They need to take Golan, West Bank and Gaza! Wipe the Palistinians off the face of the earth and show the Arab world a lesson they will never forget!
"Give the Golan back to Syria and Israel is through."
Exactly, and people who have not been to the area cannot understand the strategic significance. One can stand on the GH and see Tel Aviv, Haifa, and other targets with the unaided eye. Israel cannot compromise on the GH.
attn: Jewish people...
Finish the wall, and, if possible, try to
hurry up, the process of Arafat - dying.
Sadly, no one asks why the borders changed in 1967. They forget that it was a failed attempt to exterminate the jews. I'd love to see someone ask a pro-pre 1967 border supporter what happened back then. Could it be that the entire event was a major embarassment to the islamic world?
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