Poll: 53% of Palestinians Want Trump Out of Israel Talks

More than half of Palestinians polled want President-elect Donald Trump to stay out of the peace process with Israel, according to a poll released Tuesday by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research.

Fifty-three percent want him to stay out, while 30 percent want him to play a strong role in the process and 10 percent want Trump to have the same role as the current administration.

Other results of the survey include:

• 83 percent said President Barack Obama did not make serious efforts to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, while only 10 percent said he did.
• 37 percent of Palestinians say armed struggle is the most effective means of building a Palestinian state, 33 percent say negotiations are the best way, and 24 percent think non-violent resistance is the most effective means of doing so.
• 65 percent say the two-state solution is no longer viable due to Israeli settlement expansion, while only 31 percent believe it is still practicable. Three months ago, 56 percent said the two-state solution is no longer viable.
• 73 percent say Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas should reject Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's invitation to speak in front of the Knesset, while 21 percent believe that Abbas should accept it.
• 62 percent say the Palestinians should abandon the Oslo Peace Agreement with Israel, while 30 percent are opposed to abandoning the deal. Three months ago, 54 percent of the public supported the abandonment of the Oslo agreement and 36 percent opposed it.
• 52 percent say Israel intends to destroy the Muslim holy sites of al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and replace them with a new Jewish temple, despite the Israeli denial of such an intention. Only 12 percent say Israel is interested in maintaining the status quo without change, while 15 percent believe Israel intends to divide the Temple Mount so that Jews would have a synagogue there alongside the Muslim holy places.

The poll was conducted last week among 1,270 Palestinians and had an error margin of three percentage points.

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