Survey finds Israelis split on annexing West Bank territory

Marcy Oster

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli public opinion is split on whether the government should annex parts of the West Bank and which territory should be included, a survey found.

The Israeli Voice Index for June 2020, a monthly survey conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute, found that 24.5 percent of Israelis support applying sovereignty to all of the West Bank; 14 percent support applying sovereignty to the West Bank settlement blocs; 8 percent support applying sovereignty to just the Jordan Valley; and 25 percent oppose applying sovereignty to any part of the West Bank. Some 28.5 percent responded that they don’t know.

When asked if Israel should still apply sovereignty if it is conditioned on the establishment of a Palestinian state, 49 percent of survey respondents said it should and 38 percent said it should not.

Some 55 percent of respondents said that there is a low or very low chance that Israel will go ahead with plans to annex parts of the West Bank this year.

On the coronavirus pandemic, respondents gave the government a grade of  5.4 for its handling of the crisis, where 10 is excellent.

Meanwhile, some 56 percent of respondents said they felt President Donald Trump is better for Israel’s interests than Democratic challenger Joe Biden, while 16 percent favored Biden. Twenty-eight percent said they did not know.

The survey was conducted between June 28 and June 30, and interviewed 609 men and women in Hebrew and 149 in Arabic. The survey has a sampling error of plus or minus 3.7 percent.