The findings could bolster peace moves sought by Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) under the U.S.-backed "road map" that
sets out reciprocal steps leading to the establishment of a
Palestinian state in 2005.
According to the poll, taken for the settler monitoring
group Peace Now, 68 percent of all settlers think unauthorized
outposts should be removed and 74 percent would leave their
homes in return for compensation.
The YESHA Council, representing the 200,000 Israelis living
in the settlements scattered among the 3.6 million Palestinians
of the West Bank and Gaza Strip (news - web sites), said in a statement that the
survey, having been taken by an interested party, had no basis
in reality.
The road map calls on Israel to dismantle unauthorized West
Bank settlement outposts set up since March 2001 and to freeze
construction in established settlements as a first step toward
implementing the peace plan.
Sharon has pledged to continue dismantling outposts and
indicated he would be willing, at a later stage, to remove some
of the existing 145 settlements built on the land which
Palestinians seek for an independent state.
The positions taken by Sharon, a leading architect of the
settlement movement, stirred sharp criticism from the settler
lobby in his cabinet. But the poll's results appeared to show
less opposition on the ground.
The poll of settlers showed 23 percent are ready to leave
the Jewish settlements immediately. Fifty-four percent said
they would resist evacuation, but only 5 percent said they
would break the law and 1 percent said they would resort to
violence.
The survey, conducted by the Hopp research company in June,
also found that 68 percent of settlers agree that a peace
agreement should be reached and 30 percent think Palestinians
deserve a state.
The pollsters interviewed 1,100 settlers by phone and
reported a 3 percent margin of error.
