Poll: Many Democrats want more US support for Palestinians

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and EMILY SWANSON

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new poll on American attitudes toward a core conflict in the Middle East finds about half of Democrats want the U.S. to do more to support the Palestinians, showing that a growing rift among Democratic lawmakers is also reflected in the party’s base.

The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds differences within both the Democratic and the Republican parties on the U.S. approach toward Israel and the Palestinians, with liberal Democrats wanting more support for the Palestinians and conservative Republicans seeking even greater support for the Israelis.

The survey also examined Americans’ opinions on the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The survey was conducted about three weeks into a cease-fire following a devastating 11-day war last month between Israel and the Gaza Strip’s Hamas militant rulers. The fighting killed at least 254 Palestinians and 13 people in Israel.

The poll shows Americans overall are divided over U.S. policy toward Israel and the Palestinians. It also shows more Americans disapprove of President Joe Biden’s approach to the conflict than approve of it.



FILE - In this June 19, 2021, file photo, Palestinians demonstrators wave the Palestinian flag during protest in Damascus gate just outside Jerusalem's Old City. A new poll on U.S. attitudes toward a core conflict in the Middle East finds about half of Democrats want the country to do more to support the Palestinians (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean, File)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-joe-biden-only-on-ap-middle-east-government-and-politics-8417ab720a42826a5e14f2dd31ff4fc8

[Mosby]

1. The Corbynization of the Democratic Party is in full swing.

God help us.

[karynnj]

3. If you actually look at the poll, the responses show most in the middle between favoring one or

other too much. Moving in either direction, likely would overall be a worse position than where the Biden administration is. Another result is fascinating - most people want the US to play at most a minor role in solving the problem.

As to "carbonization, the US started at a far different position than Britain and Biden has decades of being pro-Israel. What may be happening is that the US is becoming unwilling to be led by Israel on Middle Eastern policy. They have moved considerably to the right over the last several decades. At a J Street conference, the Meretz and Labor MKs seemed to consider questions of the left winning to be naïve. Those the anti Netanyahu coalition won, the Prime Minister supports the settlers and both Lieberman and Sa'ar are right wingers.

[McKim]

6. Do You Mean More Democrats are Reading More....

Did you mean that more Democrats are reading more informed articles about what is really going on over there? When you look at the facts, Palestinian human rights are quite out of line with international law. Social media has been sharing about this for years and that put pressure on the main stream media to print more and print more truth. The result is informed Democrats are concerned about Palestinian human rights.

[Mosby]

7. Some democrats are falling for propaganda like this.

Link to tweet

The Palestinians are tasked with completing negotiations with Israel to resolve the conflict. Thats per international law and the security council of the United Nations.

They have failed to do this for 54 years.

Moreover, the Palestinians have abandoned democracy in favor of dictatorships.

Liberals in the US and elsewhere are modifying their core values to accommodate right wing Islamists, to their detriment.

[Violet_Crumble]

10. No, it looks like many Democrats are becoming more informed...

Also, the comments you've made are totally incorrect. Where in International Law does it say an occupied people are responsible for negotiating with their oppressors. As usual with you, Mosby, there's no expectation that Israel needs to do anything or has done anything wrong. It's always blame the Palestinians for everything, even as they're being attached by settlers and killed by Israeli missiles.

And feeling empathy for the Palestinian people and wanting the US to do more in support of them isn't accommodating RW Islamists. That's like someone saying supporting Israeli civilians is accommodating extremist RW Kahanists. Both claims are absolute and doing that ugly thing of painting an entire people with the same brush...

[underpants]

2. This is a really precise indicator of an informed group

Informed in terms of seeking information to include in their opinion.

There is almost no coverage of the Palestinian point of view and experience in US media.

[GulfCoast66]

8. Never assume those who disagree with you are not informed.

No fan of the Israeli government for the last 25 years.

Hamas? Need I say more?

Hard to negotiate settlement with people who want you dead.

[Violet_Crumble]

11. I safely assume that some who disagree with me aren't informed...

Others are, but choose to filter the information they get very different...

One question - You don't need to say any more about Hamas, but what about the PA? Or do they also want you dead or something? The only thing I'd say is that it's understandable that Israelis would feel that way about the Palestinian leadership, but also very understandable that the Palestinian people would feel that same way about the Israeli leadership...

[GulfCoast66]

12. Oh, I don't disagree with that. Partly.

For years I read all the details of the situation. Then realized there is no good solution. And then realized I was wasting my time.

It’s a conflict of too many people on too small piece of land. And religion drives both sides which makes compromise impossible. I will say I believe the religion part drives the Palestinians more than the Israelis but that is changing. And once religion is involved it is a cluster fuck.

But here is my deal. In Israel, gay couples can legally live together and adopt kids. They were the first in the world to allow that. They can serve in the military and have been able since 92. Again, first in the world. They Allow same sex marriage done elsewhere to be recognized. Any of these things will get you killed in Hamas territory or even PA territory.

Pretty easy decision for me.

Sometimes values matter. I value people who support human rights. All humans.

And do you honestly think the average Gaza resident or PA resident would support gay rights? Not talking leaders. But residents.

[Violet_Crumble]

13. I agree with most of what yr saying...

It's the same way for me with realising it's a waste of time. I studied the I/P conflict at uni, inhabited the I/P forum during the Sharafat years, and eventually came to the same conclusion as you did about religion and too many people on a tiny piece of land.

When it comes to the support of most human rights Israel leads other Western countries. The exception is for Palestinians, Israeli Arabs and immigrants from African countries. Even so, it's still better than Hamas or the PA on most human rights.

I don't think the average Palestinian would whole-heartedly support gay rights. And my father didn't when we voted here to legalise gay marriage. And a whole lot of Americans of the RW variety don't either. But I wouldn't want any of them (especially my elderly dad) treated the way that Palestinian residents are treated by Israel. It's education and cultural shifts that will change most people's attitudes on human rights and I think those shifts would happen eventually if something happened like Israel annexed the West Bank and Gaza and made all Palestinians citizens with equal rights. I don't think that'll ever happen, though, for a whole lot of reasons.

[jcmaine72]

4. Mark me down as being one. n/t

[manicdem]

5. I support

I want to give more support to the Palestinians. However the have to get rid of Hamas first.

[GulfCoast66]

9. Same here.

[Happy Hoosier]

14. Agree...

I’d love to offer them more support, but not so ling as Hamas is so influential there.

[Mysterian]

15. The Israeli government under Netanyahu showed unswerving support for

Donald Trump's fascism in the USA. All of a sudden, Israel doesn't seem like the good guys anymore.