Nearly two-thirds of Palestinians back UN statehood bid

Almost two-thirds of Palestinians back the campaign to seek UN recognition of their state, and the same number of Israelis believe they will make that bid, a Palestinian-Israeli poll showed.

The survey, jointly conducted by the Hebrew University and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, found that 65 percent of Palestinian respondents “believe they should go to the UN in September to obtain recognition for their state.”

An identical percentage of Israelis believed the Palestinians would push ahead with plans to seek recognition of their state within the 1967 lines when the UN General Assembly meets in September, despite the opposition of both Israel and the United States.

“Sixty-five percent of Israelis believe the Palestinians will indeed go to the UN,” the survey found.

It also found that 61 percent of Palestinians opposed resuming peace talks with the hard-line Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and 60 percent of Israelis did not expect them to do so.

Peace talks ground to a halt in September 2010 when Israel failed to renew a partial freeze on settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.

Since then, the Palestinians have refused to return to talks as long as Israel builds on land they want for a future state.

Speaking to governors of the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency on Tuesday, Mr. Netanyahu said he expected the UN motion to garner a majority, but warned that it would not bring peace.

“I don’t have any great expectations in terms of our ability to actually win a vote in the General Assembly,” he said.

“The adoption of unilateral and one-sided pro-Palestinian resolutions does not advance peace; it pushes peace backward and I hope that there will be ... a coalition of responsible countries that will put forward this contrary view.”

France has indicated that it might recognize an independent Palestinian state if peace talks are not back on track by September.

Germany, like the US, is opposed to any unilateral steps and accepts the Israeli position that any progress must be made through negotiations.

The Palestinian pollsters interviewed 1,196 people, with a margin of error of 3 percentage points, while the Israeli survey quizzed 604 persons and had a margin of 4 points.