More Israelis believe the Oslo Accords were a mistake than those who think they were the correct move, according to an Israeli Voice Index poll released by the Israel Democracy Institute on Monday.
The accords, which were signed 30 years ago, were a series of agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization made in 1993 as part of a peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.
According to the poll, 30 years on, 39% of Israelis think it wasn’t correct to sign the accords while 36% believe it was. Among the Arab population, the result is contrary with 39% believing it was correct and 28% believing it wasn’t.
In regards to political leaning, the split is far bigger with 68% of people on the Left believing the Oslo Accords were good compared to only 22% on the Right.
Asked who is responsible for the accords’ failure to lead to peace, just over half of Israeli Jews blame the Palestinians while almost a third of Israeli Arabs blame the Jews. More Arabs (47%), however, place the blame on both sides.
Israelis divided on Netanyahu’s standing amid Saudi peace
Furthermore, on the topic of peace, respondents were asked whether a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia would affect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political standing.
The number of people who thought that an agreement would strengthen Netanyahu’s political standing (41%) was only slightly higher than those who thought his standing wouldn’t be affected (39%). Meanwhile, only five percent thought he would be weakened.
In regards to how an agreement would affect the protests against the government, more than half thought it wouldn’t at all while nine percent thought it would strengthen them and 15% thought it would weaken them.
Judicial reform protests: To protect Israel’s democracy or bring down the gov’t?
Regarding the protests, almost two-thirds of coalition voters believe their aim is to bring down the government while most opposition voters (44%) say their aim is to “protect the democratic essence of the State of Israel in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence.”
One issue that protesters have been heavily criticized for is their protest against Netanyahu during his trip to the US where he gave a speech at the UN and met with US President Joe Biden.
A comparison between poll results from March and September shows that the number of people who support such protests rose throughout this year while the number of people who oppose it stayed the same. Fewer people are now uncertain as to how they feel on the subject.
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