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Condoleezza Rice at the UJC: a problem with reading the opinion polls
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| By Israel Insider staff November 14, 2007 |
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"The future of the Middle East is at stake," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dramatically told the General Assembly of the United Jewish Communities Tuesday in Nashville (see video), telling the 3,500 assembled delegates that the US would lead the battle against extremists in the region.
Rice promised the US would not give up its efforts to isolate Iran until it stopped supporting violence in the region. "The international community must not allow a state to develop nuclear capability" if it threatens to destroy another member state, she said, asking, "how can the idea of an international community have any meaning if we fail this test?"
Rice said the same held true in the Palestinian theatre. The Islamic movement Hamas is now faced with the responsibilities of governance, she said, which force it to choose between "terror and being a political party. Hamas chose violence," she continued, and is now isolated by the international community.
"Peace between Israel and the Palestinians is in the strategic interest of the United States," she added, and affirmed that the US would staunchly defend "its ally Israel." Rice said that the new peace initiative of the Bush administration's strategy centered on "addressing the character of a Palestinian State" and making it democratic.
"We intend to hold a serious and substantive meeting in Annapolis," she declared, saying the meeting would "not replace the road map." She did not say what she expected Annapolis to produce, but told the delegates that "we can and must succeed; failure is not an option."
However, she misrepresented public opinion polls, asserting that "almost all" Israelis support unilateral withdrawals from Judea and Samaria, and handovers of territory to the Palestinian Authority, when in fact the opposite is the case.
The most recent poll, conducted by Ma'agar Mohot and sponsored by the Israel Policy Center for Promoting Parliamentary Democracy and Jewish Values in Israeli Public Life, an overwhelming majoity of Israelis opposed major concession of territory to the PA. Some 65% of respondents said that due to the lessons of 2005's disengagement from the Gaza Strip, they opposed a large withdrawal in the West Bank, and 61% said they opposed removing IDF soldiers from most of the West Bank and giving control over the territory to the Palestinians.
The reasons for the opposition were clear. In the event of a withdrawal, 55% believe the territory would be used to fire rockets at Israelis and 65% believe there is a high or very high chance that Hamas would take control of the area. Some 77% said Abbas lacked the power to prevent attacks from the West Bank.
In her speech, the US secretary of state alluded to the "difficult and painful sacrifices" Israel must make to meet the most excessive Palestinian demands as an ultimatum. She hinted at what Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and foreign minister Tzipi Livni are holding back explicitly from the Israeli public: they have accepted deep withdrawals from the Judea and Samaria in favor of a Palestinian state, including the uprooting of 100,000 Israelis living there.
The audience applauded Rice on many occasions: when she reassured them of Washington?s commitment to protect longtime ally against threats from Tehran, fight anti-Semitism and confront Hamas and Iran. But the crowd fell silent when she called Abbas "a true partner for peace" and said Israel now had "responsible leadership" with which to deal. Perhaps she contented herself that no one in the polite crowd laughed out loud.
But there was even worse news in the opinion polls for Israeli PM Ehud Olmert. A majority of 55% of Israelis believe that the Knesset should suspend or oust him due to several criminal investigations against him. |
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