Approximately one in five Israelis living east of the West Bank security fence would leave if offered government support, a poll found.
According to an internal government study whose results were leaked Tuesday to Yediot Achronot, some 15,000 of the 70,000 settlers whose communities are not taken in by the fence would accept voluntary relocation packages.
The poll was conducted at the behest of Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon and minister Ami Ayalon, who want Israel to group settlers within the fence on the assumption it serves as the de facto border with a future Palestinian state.
The newspaper did not provide details on how many people were polled or the margin of error.
Israel’s failure to satisfactorily rehabilitate many of the 8,000 Jews it removed from the Gaza Strip in 2005 has raised speculation that West Bank settlers would think twice about accepting government relocation offers.
