Fifty-two percent of West Bank Palestinians still support a two-state solution with Israel despite the war, as opposed to 28% who hope for a single Palestinian state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, an INSS survey published on Tuesday found.
Commissioned conjointly with the T-Politography research group, the INSS’s survey paints a picture of a confused Palestinian public, revealing “a profound divide over continued support for Hamas and the armed struggle, opposition to normalization, and Israel’s right to exist.”
According to the inquiry, this split in opinions also reflects deep generational and political divisions within Palestinian society regarding the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
While 49% of those surveyed supported continuing the armed struggle against Israel, 43% opposed it.
Yet, many of those who favored this approach did not view it as a way out of the current conflict, with only 17% believing armed struggle is the best way “to end the Israeli occupation,” compared to 43% who viewed negotiations as the best path forward.
Next, 46% said Hamas’s decision to launch the October 7 invasion was a mistake, and 33% believed the attack harmed Palestinian chances of establishing an independent state.
Further complicating this picture, 43% of respondents opposed disarming Hamas, while 36% supported such a move.
Despite their pragmatic support for a two-state solution, ideologically, 54% believed Israel has no right to exist, and more than 69% thought Israel would not endure forever.
West Bank Palestinians also expressed pessimism regarding the future, with 59% believing Israelis and Palestinians cannot live together with full civic equality in a single state. In comparison, 40% believed coexistence is possible.
According to the survey, a large majority – 71% – viewed normalization steps between Israel and Arab states as a betrayal of Palestinian interests, while only 9% regarded these as contributing to the establishment of Palestinian statehood.
In contrast, 48% supported the idea of creating a regional alliance that would include Israel, the Palestinians, and Arab states, within which a Palestinian state could be established, compared to only 43% who opposed this notion.
Who will rule Gaza on the 'day after'?
Moreover, the study revealed a significant divide regarding who should govern Gaza in the future. There was no clear consensus on whether that should be Fatah, Hamas, or a technocratic regime.
Nevertheless, a plurality of 39% was in favor of a unity government involving both Fatah and Hamas, something which clashes with the majority found in the Israeli and Western stance that Hamas cannot be an official part of post-war Gaza governance.
Approximately 300 Palestinians over the age of 18 were surveyed in Arabic for the study between September 1 and September 7. This was before the announcement of the 20-point peace plan, which US President Donald Trump proposed.
A statement said that the maximum sampling error for the total sample is ±5.7% at a 95% confidence level.