This article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer contains two interesting points. The first paragraph reads:

JERUSALEM -- The Supreme Court heard petitions from two Israeli human rights groups against the West Bank separation barrier Monday, a day after the government said it would change the route to minimize hardship for Palestinians.

Can you imagine the Palestinian Authority allowing a case against them to be brought to court? For that matter, can you name any Arabic nation that would allow such a thing to happen?

Even more interesting, however, is the endpiece of the story.

Meanwhile, a new poll found that Palestinian support for violence and suicide bombings against Israel has reached a low during more than three years of fighting.

Only 35 percent of respondents support continuing the violence, down from 43 percent in November and 73 percent in November 2000. The Palestinian Center for Public Opinion poll surveyed 500 Palestinian adults and had a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.

This seems to be in direct contradiction of some other polls I have seen cited, but it is interesting if it's true. Maybe Hamas and Islamic Jihad have overplayed their hand, and the Palestinian people are tired of the whole intifada thing. It would be nice if Arafat and his cronies saw the numbers and sat down with the Israelis for some real negotiation, as opposed to the current "all concessions have to come from the Israelis; our position is non-negotiable" stance they have held. I'm not going to hold my breath, however.

posted on February 09, 2004 07:13 AM



Comments:

Doesn't surprise me if support for the Intifada is at an ebb.

After all, it's visibly not working, and seems unlikely to start working again in the forseeable future. (Where "working" means "getting the Israelis to give in in some way", of course.)

The Intifada's support is always strongest when the Israelis cave or waffle, and the Intifada is killing lots of Jews. When neither of those happens, support fades... not because (so far) of any real desire for lasting coexistence and peace, but from a dislike of ineffective policies.

At least, that's my analyis.

posted by Sigivald on February 9, 2004 01:04 PM

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