East Jerusalem Arabs Prefer Israel to Palestine

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By Barry Rubin

A survey in which respondents are anonymous gave a better sense of how east Jerusalem Arabs wish their future to be. They preferred Israeli citizenship over that of Palestine by 35 to 30 percent. Forty percent said they would consider moving to another neighborhood to become citizens of Israel, while 54 percent said that if their neighborhood would be in Israel they would not move to Palestine.

This poll's main usefulness  is not to set the fate of east Jerusalem in any peace settlement. Rather, it is an educational tool for how the Middle East works. Asked publicly what they thought, there's no doubt that 100 percent of east Jerusalem Arab residents would say that living in Israel was a nightmare of oppression, that Israel oppressed them daily and Israelis were evil, that they demanded east Jerusalem's turnover to a future Palestinian state, couldn't wait until it happened, and in fact insisted that it take place right now or else.

Keep this kind of thing in mind when hearing what people in the Middle East say publicly on these and other issues.