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Next to the empty chair of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israeli acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert chairs the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem Sunday. (AP)
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| By Associated Press January 30, 2006 |
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Support in Israel has strengthened for Ariel Sharon's centrist Kadima Party, which supports territorial concessions to the Palestinians, but backing for further unilateral Israeli withdrawals has weakened appreciably, according to the first poll taken since Islamic militants swept Palestinian elections.
The TNS/Teleseker poll, which appeared in the Maariv newspaper, showed Kadima, led since Sharon's Jan. 4 stroke by acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, taking 42 of the Israeli parliament's 120 seats, as opposed to 41 in the previous survey. Likud, which takes a hard line against the Palestinians, added three seats, for a total of 16. The Labor Party fell to 19 seats from 22.
Fully 50.4 percent of those questioned said that since Hamas won Palestinian elections last week, their backing for further one-sided pullouts on the order of Israel's summer withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Nearly 33 percent said their support grew.
Some 53 percent said Israel shouldn't cede more land or negotiate with a Hamas-led government. About 21 percent said unilateral withdrawals should continue without negotiations, and 17.6 percent favored talks for a final peace deal.
Olmert was the favored politician to lead Israel under the changed circumstances: 38.7 percent chose him, 28.7 percent picked Likud's leader, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and 7.5 percent said Amir Peretz, Labor's chief.
The newspaper didn't give a margin of error or state how many people were surveyed. TNS wasn't immediately available for comment.
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