THE HAGUE, Netherlands (JTA) — More than two-thirds of respondents to a survey in the Netherlands said Arab countries should recognize Israel as the Jewish state.
Some 68 percent of 4,200 adults polled last month told the leading Dutch polling company Peil.nl they believed that Arab countries “should recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish People,” according to a statement by the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel, the Dutch pro-Israel lobby group that commissioned the poll.
But the poll, whose results were published earlier this month, also showed that 23 percent of respondents believe Israel bears most of the blame for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict compared to 15 percent who blame the Palestinians. Forty-three percent of respondents said both parties were equally responsible.
A statement that the Netherlands should be more supportive of Israel than of the Palestinians received the approval of 16 percent of respondents, nearly double the number who backed more backing for the Palestinians.
Thirty-six percent of respondents said neutrality was the best policy for the Netherlands and 33 percent said the Netherlands should support both Israel and the Palestinians equally.
The two-state solution was selected as the preferred resolution of the conflict by 59 percent of respondents, whereas 14 percent of respondents said Palestinians should realize their national ambitions in Arab states. Eight percent said Jews needed to return “to their land of origin.”
Among attitudes toward Jews, 38 percent of respondents said they were positive or very positive and 6 percent said they were negative. Fifty-two percent said their attitude toward Jews was neutral.
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