Poll: 67% Oppose Unilateral Withdrawal if Road Map Impasse Over Security

Aaron Lerner Date: 1 December 2005

A poll of a representative sample of 500 adult Israeli Jews carried out by
Smith Research & Consulting on 29-30 November and sponsored by ZOA - The
Zionist Organization of America - finds that 67% oppose carrying out a
significant unilateral withdrawal from Judea and Samaria if it is not
possible to advance in negotiations with the Palestinians on the basis of
the Road Map after the elections because the PA fails to fight terror. 28%
support carrying out a significant unilateral withdrawal under those
circumstances. Among those who indicated that they plan to vote for Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon's Kadima Party, 54% oppose and 37% support carrying
out a significant unilateral withdrawal under those circumstances.

A follow up question found that of those who oppose unilateral withdrawal
under those circumstances, 75% responded that they would not vote for a
party that would support such a move and 18% would. Among those intending to
vote for Kadima who oppose unilateral withdrawal under those circumstances,
68% responded that they would not vote for a party that would support such a
move while 20% would. .

It should be noted that while the sample error of the overall survey is +/-
4.5 percentage points that the sample error is considerably greater for the
response to the follow up question among Kadima supporters because of the
small size of the subgroup.

While Chaim Ramon and many others associated with the Kadima Party openly
state that Prime Minister Sharon will carry out a significant unilateral
withdrawal from Judea and Samaria if it is not possible to advance in
negotiations with the Palestinians on the basis of the Road Map after the
elections because the PA fails to fight terror - and that this is the most
likely scenario - Sharon opted to dodge the direct question as to his plans
should the PA continue to fail to fight terror when he was asked this at a
press conference held today.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il