U.S. Muslims are much likelier than their Muslim counterparts overseas to believe that Israel can coexist with a Palestinian state, a poll found.The Pew Research Center poll published this week found that 61 percent of American Muslims believe that “a way can be found for Israel to exist so that the rights and needs of the Palestinian people can be taken care of.” That’s closer to the views of the broader American public – 67 percent – than to those in the Muslim world, where in Pew surveys in 2003 more than 50 percent said they believed that “the rights and needs of the Palestinian people cannot be taken care of as long as the state of Israel exists.” Anti-Israel sentiment at that time was particularly strong in Morocco (90 percent), Jordan (85 percent), the Palestinian Authority (80 percent), Lebanon (75 percent) and Kuwait (73 percent.) In the survey conducted in January and April of this year, coexistence scored especially well among the college educated, with 74 percent believing in its likelihood. The survey of 1,050 American Muslims had a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points.
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