Seventy-one percent of Israelis oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria. Nearly 70% want to extend Israeli sovereignty over the area, according to a poll conducted on Jan. 29.
The survey comes on the background of Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s departure on Sunday to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C.
“The findings are public just in time for Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit with President Trump. Bibi can now go to the president of the United States with a clear statement that this is the will of the people of Israel,” Avi Abelow, CEO of Pulse of Israel, which co-sponsored the poll, told JNS.
The future of Judea and Samaria, commonly known as the West Bank, is likely to be discussed between the two leaders as diplomatic relations with Arab countries is expected to be a key topic.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has signaled that a Palestinian state is a condition for normalization of relations with Jerusalem. (Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer said during a Jan. 22 speech in the Knesset plenum that Israel has made “no such promise.”)
The survey asked respondents whether they would support a Palestinian state as part of an Israeli-Saudi peace deal. More than half said they would not even do so when attached to Saudi normalization.
Thirty-nine percent said they would support a Palestinian state linked to a Saudi agreement. Eight percent had no opinion.
The results echoed a survey conducted in May 2024 by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, which found that 64% of the Israeli public opposed the creation of a Palestinian state as part of normalization with the Saudis.
Netanyahu has remained mum on extending Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, though he, with Trump’s backing, attempted to do so over parts of the region during the U.S. president’s first term in 2020.
Allies of both the president and the prime minister support the idea of Israeli sovereignty. Jettisoning the two-state solution via Israel annexing Judea and Samaria was the theme of an October 2024 conference in Jerusalem. Serving as inspiration for the conference was a new book by Trump’s former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, “One Jewish State: The Last, Best Hope to Resolve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.”
A prominent member of Netanyahu’s coalition, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionism Party, said in November that Trump’s election provides an opportunity for annexation.
“I have no doubt that President Trump, who showed courage and determination in his decisions in the first term, will support the State of Israel in this move,” he said.
Others pushing for Israeli rule over Judea and Samaria include groups such as the Sovereignty Movement, an Israeli NGO that also co-sponsored the new survey.
“The Sovereignty Movement is pleased with the results of the poll, which reflect the health of the nation and the awakening from the illusion of peace through a Palestinian state,” said the group’s co-chairs Nadia Matar and Yehudit Katsover. “The Israeli public now understands that only sovereignty is the plan that will bring security and regional stability.”
The poll found that 80% of the Israeli public agreed with the idea floated by Trump on Jan. 25 that Arab nations, particularly Egypt and Jordan, take in more Palestinians from Gaza to “clean out” the enclave. Only 10% opposed the proposal. Another 10% had no opinion on the matter.
Said Abelow, “It is quite clear that the Israeli people are looking for our leaders to stand up and work with President Trump and his administration to apply sovereignty in Judea and Samaria because Israelis have realized that Arab self-rule in Judea and Samaria is an existential danger to all of our lives, as it was in Gaza.”
Sovereignty applies Trump’s doctrine of “peace through strength” against “an enemy that educates its children to kill Jews and destroy the Jewish State of Israel,” Abelow added, noting that the Palestinian Authority, which rules Arab-populated areas in Judea and Samaria, shares the same goal as Hamas.
According to the poll, of the 71% who opposed a Palestinian state, 59% had opposed it in the past. Another 12% had supported a Palestinian state at one time, but changed their mind.
Of those still supporting a Palestinian state, 25% had held that position in the past. Only 4% had switched their position from opposition to support.
The survey was conducted by polling firm Direct Polls Ltd. It surveyed 504 adults constituting a representative sample of Israel’s general population. The statistical error was 4.5%± with a 95% confidence level.
The poll’s findings are in line with one conducted in December 2024 by Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).
That survey of 804 adults found that for the first time in nearly 18 years, a majority of Israeli Jews oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state in any form.
The new poll also presented different Israeli sovereignty models in Judea and Samaria. Sixty-eight percent agreed to sovereignty in some form, 22% opposed it, and 10% had no position.
Among the different models, the option that received the most support (25%) involved applying sovereignty over the entire area of Judea and Samaria, and promoting Arab migration.
Applying sovereignty over the Jordan Valley, the Jewish communities, and the surrounding areas came in second (20%).
Sovereignty over the entire area while leaving Arab settlement blocs intact; and a proposal to apply sovereignty only over Area C (an area within Judea and Samaria fully controlled by Israel), each received 10% support.
The survey ranked the benefits of sovereignty in the eyes of the Israeli public. Security and regional stability took first place (42%). Second was Jewish identity and historical connection (16%). In third place (9%) was strengthening Israel’s diplomatic and political arguments. JNS
{Matzav.com Israel}