Palestinian Public Opinion Polls: Attitudes on Jerusalem
With regards to Jerusalem, please indicate which of the following options you consider to be essential, desirable, acceptable, tolerable and unacceptable. (AWRAD, August 2010)
Essential | Desirable | Acceptable | Tolerable | Unacceptable | |
All of Jerusalem (East and West) should remain in Palestine | 84.1% | 10.3% | 2.2% | 1.6% | 1.7% |
Jerusalem should be internationalized as a city of peace under the authority of a Multi-faith Municipal Covenant | 12.9% | 15.6% | 17.5% | 14.7% | 39.3% |
Jerusalem should be divided into East and West along the pre-1967 border | 10.4% | 10.8% | 11.9% | 16.6% | 50.3% |
Jerusalem should be internationalized as a city of peace under the authority of the UN | 10.8% | 11.9% | 11.9% | 14.6% | 50.9% |
Divide the city according to Palestinian and Israeli current neighborhoods | 6.3% | 9.6% | 13.1% | 16.9% | 54.1% |
In your opinion what is the importance of Jerusalem to the Palestinians? Is it religious, political, economical or other specify? (Source: JMCC Poll, September 2001)
| Religious | |||
| Political | |||
| Economical | |||
| Religious and political | |||
| All the above | |||
| Religious and Economical | |||
| No answer |
From your point of views how important is Jerusalem to the Palestinian would you say, it is very important, somewhat important, somewhat not important, not important at all? (Source: JMCC Poll, September 2001)
| It is very important | |||
| Somewhat important | |||
| Somewhat not important | |||
| Very little important | |||
| No answer |
In your opinion what is the importance of Jerusalem to the Israelis? Is it, Religious political, economical or other specify? (Source: JMCC Poll, September 2001)
| Religious | |||
| Political | |||
| Economical | |||
| Religious and political | |||
| All the above | |||
| Political and Economical | |||
| Historical | |||
| Touristic | |||
| No answer |
From your point of view how important is Jerusalem to the Israelis would you say: it very important, somewhat important, somewhat not important or not important at all? (Source: JMCC Poll, September 2001)
| It is very important | |||
| Somewhat important | |||
| Somewhat not important | |||
| Very little important | |||
| No answer | 5.6 |
What, in your opinion, is the best and final solution to the Jerusalem problem? (JMCC, Jerusalem Arab Residents Attitudes)
| Palestinian Authority | PA | Palestinian Authority | Palestinian Authority | |||||
| Total (8/95) | Total (2/99) | Total (8/99) | Total (12/99) | Total (3/00) | Total (9/01) | Muslims (8/95) | Christians (8/95) | |
| A confederation between Israel and the Palestinian State | -- | -- | -- | -- | 3.6 | -- | -- | |
| Unified capital of Israel | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.5 | -- | |
| A Jewish state in the entire territory west of the Jordan river | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1.2 | -- | -- | |
| Unified capital of Palestine | -- | 9.4 | 48.9 | 32.9 | 42.6 | -- | -- | |
| Capital of Palestine | -- | 20.1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| A Palestinian state in the entire territory west of the Jordan river | -- | -- | -- | -- | 35.5 | -- | -- | |
| Capital of Muslims (Capital of Islamic State) | -- | 2.4 | 24.3 | 25.0 | -- | 28.2 | -- | -- |
| An Islamic state in the entire territory, west of the Jordan river | -- | -- | -- | -- | 42.8 | -- | -- | |
| An independent Palestinian state with entire sovereignty | -- | -- | -- | -- | 6.6 | -- | -- | |
| A confederation with Jordan | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1.2 | -- | -- | |
| The Jews leave Palestine | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1.2 | |||
East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian State and West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel | 41.5 | 3.3 | 10.4 | 18.6 | -- | 17.9 | 43.4 | 25.5 |
| International Jerusalem | 23.3 | 17.1 | 6.7 | 9.1 | -- | 4.8 | 21.8 | 35.3 |
| Jerusalem as an open city and a capital of the two states | 15.3 | -- | 5.1 | 7.6 | -- | 2.4 | 14.2 | 25.5 |
| Jerusalem as an open city and capital of Palestine | -- | 13.2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| West Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, the Old City is under a joint sovereignty & East Jerusalem is under Palestinian sovereignty | 6.7 | 3.3 | 2.9 | 4.4 | -- | 2.3 | 6.7 | 6.8 |
| There is no solution to this conflict | 4.8 | |||||||
| Other | 7.0 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 7.7 | 2.0 | |
| No opinion / Don't Know | 5.7 | 3.3 | -- | 1.3 | 1.3 | 5.7 | 3.9 |
What, in your opinion, is the best and final solution to the Jerusalem problem? (JMCC, Jerusalem Arab Residents Attitudes)
| Israel | Israel | Israel | ||||
| Total (2/99) | Total (3/00) | Arabs (2/99) | Arabs (12/99) | Jews (2/99) | Jews (12/99) | |
| A confederation between Israel and the Palestinian State | -- | 7.7 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Unified capital of Israel | 52.1 | -- | 2.1 | 3.8 | 59.3 | 81.0 |
| A Jewish state in the entire territory west of the Jordan river | -- | 57.2 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Unified capital of Palestine | -- | -- | -- | 18.8 | -- | 1.1 |
| Capital of Palestine | -- | -- | --- | -- | -- | |
| A Palestinian state in the entire territory west of the Jordan river | -- | 5.2 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Capital of Muslims (Capital of Islamic State) | -- | --- | -- | -- | -- | |
| An Islamic state in the entire territory, west of the Jordan river | -- | 3.9 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| An independent Palestinian state with entire sovereignty | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| A confederation with Jordan | -- | -- | --- | --- | -- | |
| The Jews leave Palestine | ||||||
East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian State and West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel | 8.5 | 33.2 | 36.7 | 5.0 | 4.0 | |
| International Jerusalem | 11.4 | 16.7 | 9.4 | 10.0 | 4.2 | |
| Jerusalem as an open city and a capital of the two states | -- | -- | 12.4 | -- | 3.0 | |
| Jerusalem as an open city and capital of Palestine | 11.6 | 33.2 | 12.4 | 5.0 | ||
| West Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, the Old City is under a joint sovereignty & East Jerusalem is under Palestinian sovereignty | 12.1 | 5.7 | 11.5 | 13.2 | 6.7 | |
| There is no solution to this conflict | ||||||
| Other | -- | 3.9 | -- | -- | -- | |
| No opinion / Don't Know | 4.3 | 6.2 | -- | 3.9 | -- |
When you say Jerusalem which of this do you mean? (Source: JMCC)
| Total (9/01) | West Bank (9/01) | Gaza Strip (9/01) | ||||
| The Old City | 11.0 | 10.4 | 12.0 | |||
| East Jerusalem before June 6, 1967 | 17.7 | 18.2 | 16.8 | |||
| Jerusalem - East & West, before the expansion on June 9, 1967 | 38.6 | 34.2 | 46.4 | |||
| The Israeli's Municipality boundaries in 1999 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 3.0 | |||
| Israeli greater Jerusalem | 5.0 | 5.8 | 3.6 | |||
| The Palestinian Jerusalem governance | 21.5 | 26.5 | 13.0 | |||
| I don't know | 3.6 | 3.0 | 4.5 | |||
| No answer | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.7 |
If Jerusalem formed the last obstacle in signing a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, do you then approve making Jerusalem the unified capital of Israel? (The Jerusalem Media and Communication Centre)
| Total (12/99) | Total (12/00) | West Bank (12/99) | West Bank (12/00) | Gaza Strip (12/99) | Gaza Strip (12/00) | ||||
| Agree | 2.3 | 2.7 | 3.2 | 4.1 | 0.9 | 0.2 | |||
| Disagree | 94.4 | 94.3 | 93.8 | 91.4 | 98.2 | 99.3 | |||
| I don't know | 2.3 | 2.4 | 3.0 | 3.7 | 0.9 | 0.2 | |||
| No answer | -- | 0.6 | -- | 0.8 | -- | 0.3 |
If the issue of Jerusalem is the last obstacle to the signing of the peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, will you then agree that the city of Jerusalem will remain the unified capital of Israel? (Source: JMCC Poll, December 1999)
| Agree | |||
| Disagree | |||
| Don't know |
Some people think that the Palestinian Authority cares about Jerusalem issue, others believe that the Palestinian Authority ignores it, what do you think: (Source: JMCC, August 1999)
| The Palestinain Authority cares about Jerusalem issue | |||
| The Palestinian Authority doesn't care enough about Jerusalem issue | |||
| The Palestinian Authority doesn't care about Jerusalem issue | |||
| No answer |
During the current final status negotiations on Jerusalem there are suggestions of compromised solutions including: The Palestinian Authority will have total responsibility over religious sites, the Aqsa and Holy Sepulchre, as well as administrative responsibilities over East Jerusalem. The capital of Palestinian will become parts of Jerusalem neighborhoods such as Abu Dees while postponing final resolution of the political future of east Jerusalem to the future. What is your opinion of this suggested solution? (Source: JMCC Poll, June 2000)
| The mentioned solution is acceptable | |||
| The mentioned solution should be studied and deeply thought of before making a viewpoint on it | |||
| The mentioned solution is unacceptable | |||
| I don't know | |||
| No answer |
What is more important reaching a fair solution to Jerusalem's issue or reaching a fair solution to refugees issue? (Source: JMCC Poll, March 2000)
| Jerusalem issue | |||
| Refugees issue | |||
| Both are equally important | |||
| I don't know | |||
| No answer |
(Israeli View) Looking at the issue of JERUSALEM, the Israeli position on this issue was: Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem which will also include "Maale Edomim" "Gush Etzion" and "Givat Zeev". The Capital of the Palestinian State, will be established in neighborhoods currently part of east Jerusalem and will be named El Kuds. Palestinians will have full sovereignty over some of these neighborhoods and wide authonomy in others. A special arrangement with the Palestinians will take place in the "Old City" under overall Israeli sovereignty. Palestinians will also be the guarantors in "Har Habait".
Would you say that Israel's position on Jerusalem was right, that Israel could compromise more, or that Israel made already too much of a compromise? (Source: PSR, July 2000)
ISRAEL Total | ||||||||||||
This is the right position | 27.9 | |||||||||||
Israel could compromise more | 16.4 | |||||||||||
Israel made too much of a compromise | 55.7 | |||||||||||
Looking at the issue of Jerusalem, the Palestinian side demanded full sovereignty over the Arab neighborhoods and holy places in East Jerusalem. Some media reports say also that the Palestinian side agreed to allow Israel to annex the settlements of Ma'aleh Adumim, Givat Zeev, and Gush Etzion, to become part of West Jerusalem and to put the Jewish Quarter and the Wailing Wall under Israeli sovereignty. What is your opinion of this position? (Source: PSR, July 2000) | |||
| Total% | West Bank% | Gaza Strip% | |
1.This position is just right | 27.1 | 27.6 | 26.3 |
2. Not enough of a compromise | 8.9 | 6.9 | 11.9 |
3. Too much of a compromise | 57.1 | 57.2 | 57.0 |
4. Don't know | 7.0 | 8.4 | 4.8 |
Jerusalem has been closed in front of the people from West Bank and Gaza for several years, how did it affect the following aspects in your life? (Source: JMCC Poll, August 1999)
Commerce in general:
| A very positive effect | |||
| A positive effect | |||
| It didn't have any effect | |||
| A negative effect | |||
| A very negative effect | |||
| No answer |
Psychologically - feeling isolated:
| A very positive effect | |||
| A positive effect | |||
| It didn't have any effect | |||
| A negative effect | |||
| A very negative effect | |||
| No answer |
Family relations (with relatives in Jerusalem / West Bank):
| A very positive effect | |||
| A positive effect | |||
| It didn't have any effect | |||
| A negative effect | |||
| A very negative effect | |||
| No answer |
Work conditions:
| A very positive effect | |||
| A positive effect | |||
| It didn't have any effect | |||
| A negative effect | |||
| A very negative effect | |||
| No answer |
Freedom of movement:
| A very positive effect | |||
| A positive effect | |||
| It didn't have any effect | |||
| A negative effect | |||
| A very negative effect | |||
| No answer |
Cultural opportunities:
| A very positive effect | |||
| A positive effect | |||
| It didn't have any effect | |||
| A negative effect | |||
| A very negative effect | |||
| No answer |
To what extent, do you agree or disagree to the argument that Jerusalem is already practically divided between East and West? (Source: JMCC Poll, February 1999)
| Palestinian Authority | ||||||
| Strongly agree | ||||||
| Agree | ||||||
| Fairly disagree | ||||||
| Strongly disagree | ||||||
| Don't know |
In the framework of the final status negotiations, do you support the idea that says that Jerusalem remains unified and a capital of Israel, and to have Jerusalem (Abu Deis), which lies outside the boundaries of present Jerusalem, as the Palestinian Capital, and provided that the Aqasa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock be outside Israel's sovereignty and administered by the Palestinian? (Source: JMCC Poll, December 1996)
| Agree | |||
| Disagree | |||
| No opinion |
Are you.... (Source: JMCC Poll, March 1996)
Total | |
| In support of seperating East Jerusalem from West Jerusalem | 20.9 |
| In support of seperating East Jerusalem from West Jerusalem only if East Jerusalem becomes a part of the West Bank | 11.4 |
| I am against seperating East from West Jerusalem | 45.2 |
| Other | 1.1 |
| Refused to answer | 21.3 |
More than three years since the peace process began, how do you feel about Jerusalem? (JMCC, Jerusalem Arab Residents Attitudes, August 1995)
| Total | Muslims | Christians | |
| Very optimistic | 8.0 | 9.0 | -- |
| Somewhat optimistic | 34.4 | 34.3 | 31.4 |
| No opinion | 24.7 | 23.9 | 21.6 |
| Somewhat pessimistic | 21.9 | 22.0 | 21.6 |
| Very pessimistic | 11.1 | 10.6 | 11.7 |
Do you think the Palestinian Authority is doing enough on the issue of Jerusalem? (JMCC, Jerusalem Arab Residents Attitudes, August 1995)
| Total | Muslims | Christians | |
| Yes | 38.9 | 40.8 | 25.5 |
| No | 49.7 | 47.3 | 60.8 |
| No opinion | 11.4 | 10.9 | 13.7 |
Which passport would you prefer to have? (JMCC, Jerusalem Arab Residents Attitudes, August 1995)
| Total | Muslims | Christians | |
| Jordanian | 16.4 | 14.8 | 29.4 |
| Israeli | 9.2 | 9.0 | 9.8 |
| Palestinian | 66.1 | 68.0 | 51.0 |
| No opinion | 8.4 | 8.1 | 9.8 |
Do you agree with the steps taken by some Jerusalem Palestinians, who have obtained Israeli passports? (JMCC, Jerusalem Arab Residents Attitudes, August 1995)
| Total | Muslims | Christians | |
| Yes | 10.6 | 10.4 | 11.8 |
| No | 78.9 | 80.8 | 72.5 |
| No opinion | 10.5 | 9.5 | 15.7 |
If Israeli elections for the Jerusalem Municipality were held today, would you participate? (JMCC, Jerusalem Arab Residents Attitudes, August 1995)
| Total | Muslims | Christians | |
| Yes | 13.1 | 12.8 | -- |
| No | 83.2 | 83.8 | 82.4 |
| No opinion | 3.7 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
To what extent is it true that the way the Palestinians landlords in Jerusalem dealt with their tenants contributed to the city's eviction of its Palestinian occupants? (JMCC, Jerusalem Arab Residents Attitudes, August 1995)
| Total | Muslims | Christian | |
| Very true | 54.8 | 56.1 | 47.1 |
| Somewhat true | 30.1 | 29.7 | 33.3 |
| It had no effect | 11.2 | 10.9 | 13.7 |
| No opinion | 3.9 | 3.2 | 5.9 |
What, would you say, is the main problem which Palestinian Jerusalem residents face? (JMCC, Jerusalem Arab Residents Attitudes, August 1995)
| Total | Muslims | Christians | |
| Taxes | 22.5 | 22.5 | 23.5 |
| Housing/Building permits | 25.6 | 25.1 | 33.3 |
| Closure/Feeling of isolation | 16.0 | 15.8 | 15.6 |
| Settlements/Occupation | 7.1 | 8.1 | -- |
| General situation | 11.7 | 11.4 | 11.8 |
| Racism | 3.9 | 3.5 | 7.8 |
| Other (including imprisonment, drugs and social breakdown) | 5.4 | 5.5 | 6.0 |
| No opinion | 7.8 | 8.1 | 2.0 |
Do you believe it is possible to reach a just and comprehensive political solution while there are still Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem? (JMCC, Jerusalem Arab Residents Attitudes, August 1995)
| Total | Muslims | Christians | |
| Yes | 9.8 | 9.0 | 15.7 |
| No | 84.3 | 85.4 | 76.5 |
| No opinion | 5.9 | 5.5 | 7.8 |
Would you approve putting Jerusalem under international supervision? (JMCC, Jerusalem Arab Residents Attitudes, August 1995)
| Total | Muslims | Christians | |
| Yes | 49.9 | 47.3 | 60.8 |
| No | 46.2 | 47.8 | 37.3 |
| No opinion | 3.9 | 9.0 | 2.0 |
How long, do you think, will it be before there is a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital? (JMCC, Jerusalem Arab Residents Attitudes, August 1995)
| Total | Muslims | Christianss | |
| Less than 10 years | 28.5 | 28.7 | 30.0 |
| 10-20 years | 16.5 | 16.0 | 19.6 |
| 20-50 years | 9.8 | 10.8 | 9.8 |
| 50-100 years | 2.6 | 2.5 | 3.9 |
| Many years | 13.4 | 13.0 | 13.5 |
| Never | 9.2 | 9.3 | 9.6 |
| No opinion | 20.0 | 18.8 | 13.6 |
If you have a choice between war and continued Israeli control over Jerusalem, what will you choose? (JMCC, Jerusalem Arab Residents Attitudes, August 1995)
| Total | Muslims | Christians | |
| War | 62.8 | 67.7 | 21.6 |
| Continued Israeli control | 16.0 | 14.4 | 27.5 |
| No opinion | 21.2 | 17.9 | 51.0 |
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