Last update - 00:00 20/11/2007
Poll: Palestinians back peace bid, but don't expect progress
By The Associated Press
A majority of Palestinians want Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to negotiate a peace deal with Israel, but don't believe there will be progress at next week's U.S.-hosted Mideast conference, a poll showed.
There has been a slight drop in skepticism about the conference, to be held in Annapolis, Maryland, in the past two months, according to the survey by the independent polling company Near East Consulting.
In November, 57 percent of 1,200 respondents said they don't believe the conference will lead to progress in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, compared to 61 percent in September, according to the poll, which had an error margin of 3 percentage points.
Seventy-one percent said they want Abbas to attend the conference, down five percentage points from an October poll.
"Palestinians... don't want to be seen as unwilling to be part of a peace process," said pollster Jamil Rabah, explaining the apparent contradiction. Many Palestinians don't believe the international environment is right for a peace deal, but still support Abbas' efforts to negotiate, he said.
Seventy-eight percent of the respondents said they support a peace agreement with Israel, and 51 percent said the fate of Jerusalem is the most important issue for the two sides to negotiate.
In the poll, 62 percent said they want Jerusalem to be divided between Israel and a future Palestinian state. The issue is one of the most divisive between the two sides.
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