By GIL HOFFMAN
06/06/2011
Large majorities recognize importance of keeping J'lem under Israeli sovereignty, oppose transferring Temple Mount to Palestinian control.

Seventy-seven percent of Israelis oppose returning to pre-1967 lines even if it would lead to a peace agreement and declarations by Arab states of an end to their conflict with Israel, a poll revealed Monday.

The Dahaf Institute poll of 500 Israelis representing a sample of the population was taken last week and commissioned by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs to coincide with Monday night's presentation of Bar Ilan University's Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies' Guardian of Zion Award to JCPA's head, former ambassador to the United Nations Dore Gold.

The poll found that large majorities of 85% and 75% respectively recognized the importance of maintaining a united Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty within the framework of any final peace deal and opposed transferring the Temple Mount to Palestinian control even if the Western Wall were to remain in Israeli hands.

Regarding the Jordan Valley, 84% believe Israel must maintain control of the strategic border with Jordan even in the framework of a final peace agreement.

The JCPA has been a major advocate of ensuring that Israel keep defensible borders as the United Nations decided after the Six Day War. The poll found that 60% of Israelis believed that defensible borders would ensure security more than a peace agreement would and that 82% considered security concerns more important than a peace deal.

In comparison with polls sponsored by JCPA in 2005, Israelis have become less convinced the Palestinians will recognize the right of Israel to exist and give up their demand for millions of descendants of Palestinian refugees to enter the final borders of Israel.