Poll on Qassams: 42% of Israeli Jews back reoccupying Gaza
Peace Index survey shows 48% oppose such a move, but 63% back limited IDF ground operation.
By Prof. Ephraim Yaar, Prof. Tamar HermannThe Jewish public is divided over Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's statement that there is no immediate and total way to stop the Qassam fire on Sderot, with a large minority - 42 percent - favoring reoccupying Gaza and staying there to make sure the fire is not resumed, the Peace Index poll has shown.
The survey, carried out from May 28-30, showed that 48 percent oppose such a move. Sixty-three percent (vs. 28 percent), however, support a limited ground operation after which IDF forces would withdraw. The public is almost evenly divided between 47 percent who support holding direct negotiations with Hamas on stopping the rocket fire on Sderot, and 48 percent who oppose such negotiations.
The poll determined that only 37 percent of the Jewish public is currently convinced by Olmert's claim that there is no immediate and total way to stop the Qassam fire; 53.5 percent think he is mistaken. Indeed, 46 percent ascribe the leadership's avoidance of launching a military operation in Gaza to the conclusions of the Winograd Committee's interim report (vs. 39 percent who do not believe this is the reason).
In addition, the public believes that the conclusions of the Winograd Committee's interim report are deterring the government from launching a military operation in the Gaza Strip. Indeed, although a majority of the public opposes it, a small minority favors reoccupying Gaza and leaving Israel Defense Forces troops there to keep things quiet.
A majority, however, supports a more limited ground operation in the Strip after which IDF forces would leave again. The public is evenly divided on the issue of direct political negotiations with Hamas on halting the Qassam rocket fire. However, an overwhelming majority opposes responding positively to Hamas' offer to stop the Qassam fire in return for halting Israel's security operations in the West Bank, including arrests and strikes on the organization's activists.
Interestingly, while a clear majority of the public thinks the government should invest more in reinforcing homes and public institutions in Sderot and its environs, only a small minority says it should concentrate on creating alternative housing for residents of the areas outside the Qassams' range.
Whereas only a small minority trusts the current political leadership to eventually find the right solution to the security problem posed by the Qassams, a clear majority trusts the current IDF command to do so. Further evidence of the lack of trust in the political system is shown by the fact that only about half the public is certain that, if elections are held soon, they will bother to vote. The rest are vacillating, or declare that they will decline to cast a ballot.
Those are the main findings of the Peace Index [Note that there is a link between overall readiness for negotiations with the Palestinian Authority and readiness for direct talks with Hamas about the Qassams]:
Among those who generally support negotiations, 63 percent also favor direct contacts with Hamas on the rocket fire and only 33 percent are opposed to such talks. But among those who generally oppose contacts with the Palestinian Authority, only 18 percent favor negotiating with Hamas, compared with a majority of 56 percent who are opposed.
In any case, an overwhelming majority of 76 percent of the Jewish public believes Israel should not respond positively to Hamas' offer about ceasing IDF arrests of and strikes on its members in the West Bank in return for promises to stop the Qassam fire.
As noted, the Jewish public is not in favor of evacuating residents from the areas under attack. A majority of 52 percent thinks the government should mainly invest in reinforcing homes and public institutions in Sderot, and only 14 percent say it should focus on finding housing and employment outside the Qassams' range.
The Arab public's positions on these issues are completely different. A clear majority (77 percent) opposes both a reconquest of Gaza and a limited Israeli military operation to stop the Qassam fire (71 percent). A definite majority (71 percent), however, believes Israel should negotiate with Hamas on stopping the rockets and should respond positively to its offer to link ending Israeli security actions against its members in the West Bank with ending the Qassam fire on Sderot (63 percent).
In this context, a majority of the Arab public also believes Olmert is wrong when he claims there is no immediate way to stop the Qassams. Compared with the Jewish public, a higher rate thinks the government should focus on alternative housing and employment for those in Sderot and its surroundings (39 percent), and fewer say it should concentrate on reinforcing homes and public institutions (28 percent).
This survey, too, reveals profound distrust in the political leadership, especially compared with the considerable trust in the military leadership. No less than 80 percent (vs. only 15 percent) say they do not trust the current political leadership to deal appropriately with the security problem posed by the Qassams, whereas 66 percent trust the current IDF command to do so (23 percent do not trust the military leadership).
The extent of alienation from the political leadership also emerges in the distribution of the answers to the question: "If new elections were held soon, would you be: sure that you would vote - 55 percent; I think I would vote - 16 percent; I do not think I would vote - 9.6 percent; I am sure I would not vote - 12.5 percent." (The rest did not know.) In other words, only slightly over half the respondents are sure they would fulfill their civic duty and head for the booths.
The peace indexes for this month were:
Oslo Index: 33.7 (Jewish sample: 30.1)
Negotiation Index: 45.7 (Jewish sample: 41.9)
The Peace Index Project is conducted at the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research and the Evens Program in Mediation and Conflict Resolution of Tel Aviv University, headed by Prof. Ephraim Yaar and Prof. Tamar Hermann. The telephone interviews were conducted by the B.I. Cohen Institute of Tel Aviv University on 28-30.5.2007, and included 613 interviewees who represent the adult Jewish and Arab population of Israel (including the territories and the kibbutzim). The sampling error for a sample of this size is 4.5%.
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This story is by: Prof. Ephraim Yaar, Prof. Tamar Hermann
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Jasmine: "Johnboy wants Israel to protect the Arabs from the Arabs." Between 1949-67 Jordan and Egypt occupied that land. Occupation does not give the occupying power the right to plunder the land and ignore the safety and well-being of the "protected persons" that are under its authority, Jasmine. The law is very clear on that. Occupation brings with it OBLIGATION, and during 1949-67 Jordan and Egypt fulfilled those obligations towards the civilians under their occupation. After 1967 Israel replaced them as the occupying power. The OBLIGATIONS were inherited along with the LAND. Israel MUST "protect the Arabs from the Arabs" if the Arabs who are in need of protection are under her authority. THAT IS THE LAW. Picking up your soldiers and repositioning them along the border does not mean Israel has RELINGUISHED that obligation. It is simply ABROGATING its responsibilities under the law. Simple as that, Jasmine.
Maybe the return of the UN Emergency Force to Gaza(where they were betw. 1956-67, as Gaza was a huge refugee camp)would once again be the best, apeasing solution to Gaza's chaos and lawlessness. The money that has been flowing into Gaza could be given for the UN-officials to manage and to be used for the humanitarian aid to improve the Gazans' quality of life and to organize the Gaza administration. The UN should stay there for as long as life has become normal and people have mentally recuperated from the present stressful climate of relentless animosity and fear. Post traumatic stress-disorder must be sky-high, especially among the children! The UN should disarm ALL the Gazans, destroy the tunnels and quassam launch-pads as its first measure! Israel must absolutely stay away from Gaza! ONLY in case the Gazans specifically ask Israel to take over, may Israel consider it and then on Israel's terms only. Gazans should not use Israelis as their rescuers, for that is a form of abuse.
The withdrawal gave us a huge dose of Qassams, the kidnapping of Cpl. Shalit, and a civil war between palestinian factions. And the Arab Peace Initiative calls for Israel to withdrawal to 6/4/67 borders? Please.
Gaza is jewish land,and the arabs are illegally occutying it.The jews who are supporting giving away jewish land to the arabs are all descendants of goyim and mamzerim. The Maharal of Prague said when the jews received the Torah at Har Sinai the soul of each jew was attached to the Torah and rhe land of Israel.It is obvious that the leftist jews are not descendants of jews.They are enemies of the jewish people like Sheik Yassin and Iranian president.
Israel could, immediately, cease the Qussams by her intire withdrawl from the West bank and East-Jerusalem! But this solution would destroy the insane dream of Greater Israel. So they are waffling and waffling about "security reasons" and grab the land. And everybody who criticizes this hypocrisy is a an anti-Semitist. This dirty trick doesn't work anymore!!!
"From prophet to priest all deal in falsehood. They relieved the disaster of My people by making light of it, saying 'Peace! Peace!' But there is no peace." -- Jeremiah 6:13-14. Answer is not to realize war stinks. Answer is to make the ENEMY realize war stinks. Given all those virgins this will require neutron bomb. Iran is key. Invade Syria and keep going into Iran. Easy with neutron bomb. Use it to kill Iranian and Syrian forces. Radiation dissipates in one week. Then subsequent ground invasion is cakewalk. Then no need to nuke underground Iran nuclear sites. Just take stairs and destroy with conventional explosives. ONLY solution to get ALL Iranian nuclear sites: INVADE! Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iran problems all require GROUND forces. Israeli leftist shmoozers in outer space forgot life on Earth requires TERRITORY. H-bomb on Tehran would be worse so be happy. See this - http://www.neutroniran.blogspot.com/ Fact - Israel WILL use nukes. Only question is whether Iran uses them first.
"In any case, an overwhelming majority of 76 percent of the Jewish public believes Israel should not respond positively to Hamas' offer about ceasing IDF arrests of and strikes on its members in the West Bank in return for promises to stop the Qassam fire." - Haaretz "The masses are asses, especially if they are led by an ass" - Tosefta The source of trouble is the Israeli government's refusal to negotiate peace with Abbas. Israel has declared that as long as Hamas is dominant in the PA government, every member of the government (including Fatah and independents) will be boycotted and there will be no peace talks with Abbas. A nonsensical position based on no known principle. And while there is "no partner", Israel not only besieges the PA government financially (more than any other country), but refuses to have a cease fire in the West Bank. Israel continues to hunt down militants in the WB, and their organizations answer with Qassams from Gaza. Recently, a large number of civilians (including a fetus) were killed in WB, and Hamas felt obliged to respond. So now we have fire in both WB and Gaza. The way to go: 1. Agree to a cease fire in BOTH Gaza and West Bank. Hamas and Fatah have agreed to impose it on the smaller groups. 2. A week or two after the last shot has been fired, Israel removes many unnecessary roadblocks in WB, and Abbas upgrades border control on the Egyptian border. EU lifts its siege on the PA. 3. When all is well (at a specified time), Israel lifts its financial siege over Hamas and exchanges Shalit. (This will reduce the price for Shalit.) 4. Independent of no.3, start peace negotiations with Abbas, then bring it to a referendum. It will be approved, as polls suggest. 5. Hamas either accepts the deal or will lose its popular support and decline. In any case, time for new elections and implementation of the deal. (The peace deals should have a provision disallowing a party not accepting it from participating in politics.)
We must look to an alternative other than more occupation. Occupation begats disaster. It is not beyond our immagination to develop a network system of defence which involves ground to air missiles , barrage ballons equiped with heat seeking and laser devises which could completely stop incoming missiles. Whatever the cost to develop defences it cannot match that of a hopeless occupation.
What rubbish you talk. Jews and Arabs live in the same apartment block in Haifa, Acre, Lod, Ramla and many other cities in Israel. Its got nothing to do with that. We all knew in our heart of hearts that leaving Gaza and making 18000 Jews homeless (many of them are still homeless living in tents) would be a waste of time. Instead of the Palestinians rebuilding with the £8billion offered to them by the G8 summit, they chose to use Gaza as a lauch pad for Qassam missiles. They didnt even want to use the agriculture left to them in Gush Katif. THEY ARE THEIR OWN WORST ENEMY.
You clearly misunderstood my talkback because your response mentioned things that are clearly NOT realavent to the present Palestinian suffering and actually sound like a good description of jewish suffering over the last 2000 years. Too bad the palestinians voted Hamas and now have to suffer the consequences of Hams' decision to be eternally at war with Israel. I urge you to consider what your gov't would do if quassams were being launched at your home, because clearly you haven't considered it yet.
Ledftists anarchists want to transfer Gaza Iranisation to Judea and Samaria , Peace Now , Meretz , Leftists are simply western Jihadists twisting human rights , freedom of expression to bring about the transfer Gaza Iranisation to Judea and Samaria , for that aim they soit disant wear peace cloth and manipulate public opinion ,
The Palestinians lost their right of movement when terror became their only game. The Palestinians have death and racism as their daily bread due to their own desire. The could have made Gaza into the Palestinian Rivera. Instead all they made Gaza into was a new Al Quaida training camp. They have to look in the mirror and say. We are the ones that brought woe unto us. Sorry deal with reality.
The opinion poll suggested, "an overwhelming majority opposes responding positively to Hamas' offer to stop the Qassam fire in return for halting Israel's security operations in the West Bank, including arrests and strikes on the organization's activists" Every time that another Palestinian is killed, particularly when innocent bystanders are killed, it simply continues the cycle of violence. If the Israelis don't have the intelligence or the self-control to forge a peace, how pray tell, do they expect the Palestinians to do any better. Perhaps they are really different peas coming from the same pod, as the Bible suggests.
Everonenshould indeed consider what it is like to: 1. Set aside 5 hours for a half hour journey. 2. No right of movement to work or to marry. 3. No recourse to justice if you or your child is arrested and detained for months without reason or charge. 4. No right to citizenship or to a passport. 5. No right to an education or access to medical services. 6. No right to vote. 7. But forced to pay 100% taxes and get no sanitation, street cleaning or other municipal services you pay taxes for. 8. No freedom of movement. 9. No privacy in your own home. 10. Having to see your daughter shot by a full mag of rounds and the perpetrator rewarded with promotion and a cash award. How would you feel having to live like that?
If Ahmadinejad says he started to push the button towards Israel's destruction through Hez and Pals, doesn't it make sense to take out the threat in Gaza, not on a temporary basis when it would resume later, but on a permanent basis. Is it not possible to do this without the situation turning into one like the summer war? The rockets that fell on Sderot hurt a lot of people already, psychologically, etc.
Exactly which Haaretz reader is supposed to be "surprised" by these figures. After getting their butts kicked in Lebanon, naturally the IDF would like to return to the painless ease of killing Palestinians in Gaza, who can't fight back and can be slaughtered without even having to look them in the eye. Cowards, may you face Hezbollah again this summer
the majority of people, world wide, hate us jews and no matter what concession Israel makes her problems can't be solved. PA is a threat to Jews and western civilizations but our leaders won't seriously confront the issue. However, we know how dangerous Iran is and can see us doing something SERIOUS about it soon. Double standards huh!
It doesnt exist: nobody knows who to talk to. The Hamas hierarchy is no less disorganised than the way they run the territory. Dahlan makes statements, others deny them. There are no agreements to be made with a body without a leadership.
Mohammed couldnt get Fatah and Hamas to unite at the moment. They're sworn enemies.
Johnboy wants Israel to protect the Arabs from the Arabs. Then he'll want us to make and fund a state for them, but he'll want us to let them murder us because otherwise we'll be showing aggression.
..then Johnboy MAY realize that Israel is NOT occupying Gaza...
The bottom line is, regardless what military tactic Israel uses to deal with the Gaza situation, it will be the wrong one, because the problem is NOT solvable my military force. - Invading Gaza and withdrawing after killing a bunch of people will NOT stop the rockets. - Invading Gaza, killing a bunch of people and leaving Israeli soldiers there to slowly die will NOT stop the rockets (didn't work in the past so why should it work now?). - Putting a siege in place to starve Gaza into submission will NOT stop the rockets. The reality is there is NO WAY to stop the rockets unless Israel talks unconditionally to Hamas. So Israel needs to decide how many people (Palestinians and Israelis) will need to die before they can talk. I strongly suggest not waiting too long because eventually the Palestinians will give up all hope and just start a deadly war.
All this indicates is the degree to which Israeli's are out of touch with reality. They still don't get it after 40 years...what an regressive society.
If we had listened to those radicle SETTLERS we would not be faceing this crisis. Lets learn from our errors. Reoccupy and evict the terrorists.
wouldn't want to live in an apartmentblock that housed "Arabs". This may sound strange to some considering that over half of Israels population is Jewish and Muslim Arabs.
you are harrassed day and night for decades.the enemy even shows up at this site cursing us at every opportunity(see the australian hater and bigot johnboy)but you fight back again and again and nevre lose your spirit. i salute israel and i salute the jewish people.
the others will come round after some more Israeli blood is spilled.
you are a troublemaker johnboy.the germans have a word for it.it is schadenfreude. joy at the troubles of others.in your case you want to incite trouble against israel. you say we are "in effective control of gaza",you follow the news in the region and know rather well if there were no rockets fired our way we would not be interested in the rat hole one way or other. as far as effective control is concerned it is egypt with its border with gaza that pours arms to stoke the fires of the barbarians in the hell hole. may i repeat it is hatred on your part that keeps you coming back for more.no question.
48 % I mean
58% don`t
I have posted Time in and Time out how to stop the Qassam rockets. The editors of Haaretz have yet to post my ideas. I guess the editors want S'derot made into a Ghost Town. They will hide the truth from their readers because other people have different ideas than from their left wing agenda. The Readers of Haaretz you deserve better.
Gaza is already occupied, it has never been freed, what are you going to do more? spread your soldiers and tanks between homes in camps...
When the Jews in Tel Aviv will be hit with missles. Than they will say, no it cannot go on. Send in the IDF and have no mercy. We need our lives to be normal. The half of million Jews of Tel Aviv, can sleep very well, knowning that people of S'derot have been made homeless. It is like when a person passes a homeless person on the street. It is easy to turn your head the other way and continue walking. However in the case of the homeless, must be will rationalize whey the person is homeless. A drunk? Lazy? The people of S'derot only did one thing wrong. They happen to live too close to the Gaza boarder. I guess the people of Tel Aviv, say: Shame on them! and that is how they turn their heads against their Jewish brothers.
Time to play hard ball. Israel must stop trying to pretend, a bomb here and a bomb there will end the Qassams. Israel must be honest and say, killing their leaders will halt the Qassams. Killing their leaders has been proven worthless. Israel must play hard ball. Israel must tell the people of Gaza. You made one of our cities into a Ghost Town. We will do it to one of your cities now. See how you like it. This will make the "good" people of Gaza stand up and make an intifada against all terror against Israel.
Look at all the headlines each day on this paper. Most of them deal with Israel killing this Hamas or jailing innocent kids, or confiscating illegally land;even new poll shows 25% at least is illegal grabs; Israel against talks with neighbors and on and on and now reentering Gaza. 'Cmon, how about sitting at a table and finding out how peace might work instead of war. War and bullying innocent people is such a copout. Simply put, the Palestinian people are being treated like animals in their own land and history shows us again and again, that such treatments will not work in the end. Israel must get into the business of peace for its own good and the good of mankind. This is getting old.
How did the US stop Japan in WW II? Israel must give the people of Gaza a choice. Stop the rockets or cease to exist. Israel must tell every country that, any country that believes that S'derot should be made a ghost town, that Israel should have the legal right to bomb a city in the country that would be against Israel into a ghost town. Thus if France does not like Israel's option in stopping the rockets. Israel must go of the coast of Bordeaux and bomb Bordeaux out of existance. Just like the Arabs did to S'derot. We left Gaza. They only increased the bombings. We threaten with no teeth, the bombings only continue. The time is to put up and shut up. The Arabs will bomb other cities out of existance in Israel, if Israel does nothing about it. This is a war of survival and Israel cannot pretend it is not a war of survival. Israel must tell the people of Gaza you have one week to find all the rocket shooters into Israel and stop them. If not, sadly for you guys, Gaza will be destoyed.
It always gets me how some of these Know-it-alls have never spent any time in the arena they are so opiniated in. SO easy to spout off from abroad. If Cliky actualy spent a few minutes under attack, he would no doubt wet his pants and call out for mummy.
FLATTEN IT...!!
So, do it.
Israel should not be tempted to reoccupy Gaza. The only ones who would benefit are Hamas and Fatah, who could finally reunite against a common enemy, and the Gazan population, who would have peace and quiet. It might lessen the Kassams, but not enough to be worth sacrificing our soldiers for. Not enough benefit in it for Israel. Try targeted assassinations, making a safety zone, develop anti-missile defenses, turn off the electricity before you put our soldiers in danger for the Arabs' benefit.
sure they want to relocate sterot.... say maybe to new jersey? like the 25% u.s. muslems who think suicide bombing is a good thing-the worst enemies you have amoung you are the jews who agree with them.
Which country in the World could ignore terrorist quassam firing on civillians and not act?!? The Palestinians should have tried voting for a government that cares about them JUST A LITTLE more than they care about killing Israelis. OVERWHELMING force is morally justified to put a stop to quassam fire and to quell the suicidal religious zealotry that fuels it. Everyone at talkback should consider what their government would do if bobms were being lobbed randomly at houses where they live.
Israel is still the occupying power in Gaza, with "effective control" of the entire area. Time to realize that "disengagment" was nothing but a figleaf thought up by Sharon to allow Israel to dodge its obligations under International Law. It occupied Gaza in 1967. It was responsible for it, and picking up all the soldiers and moving them to the edge of the strip did not end that responsibility. It needs to go back in. It needs to reestablish law and order, and it needs to protect the Palestinian civilians that Israel left unprotected in the face of the Palestinians militant factions. It broke Gaza. It needs to go back in and fix it.
....brain 52% of the citizens agree with the Qassams on Sderot.
an opportunity". The only reason Israelis re-think the departure from the Gaza Strip is because the Arabs there missed yet another opportunity to advance toward an accomodation of peaceful coexistence with the Jewish state through agricultural, industrial and tourism development, the infrastructure for which was handed to them by the Jews who were evicted from the Strip.
Partial reoccupation will serve to long secutity of Israel and strongly limit firing of Qassams.
COME NOW CLIKKY ITS A FOREGONE ACTIVITY THE ARABS OF GAZA DESERVE TO BE PROTECTED FROM THE CRIMINALS WHO CARRY WEAPONS INSTEAD OF PLOUGHSHARES !!
There is only one way to stop this once and for all. Reoccupy Gaza, stop fannying about in Judea and Samaria and simply declare both bits to be part of Israel. What's the problem? Oh sorry i forgot. Yes, of course, you'll have to ensure that beofre you do so you ask all those folk already living there just to move along now please.
Surely it should read "48% of Israeli Jews OPPOSE reoccupying Gaza over Qassams"