The majority of Israeli Jews say they want the establishment of an apartheid regime if the West Bank is formally annexed to Israel, according to the results of a survey published by Israeli daily Haaretz on Tuesday.
Between a third and one half of participants in the survey want to live in a state that practices formal and open discrimination against Palestinians. An even larger portion wants Israel to run as an apartheid state if territories occupied after 1967, considered by the international community to be illegal, become officially absorbed into the state.
The survey signals fresh Israeli acceptance of the term “apartheid”, previously rejected by the Jewish public though previous polls have also shown a preference for discriminatory behavior against Palestinians.
The poll shows that 58 percent of the 503 Jewish Israelis questioned by the pollsters think that Israel already practices apartheid against Arabs.
“The only thing shocking about the poll was people’s response to the term ‘apartheid’ … research I have done over the years indicates in general Israelis support certain kinds of discriminatory behavior but they reject the term apartheid,” Tel Aviv-based public opinion analyst Dahlia Scheindlin told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Fifty-nine percent believe there should be preference for Jews over Arabs in hiring for government jobs.
Seventy-four percent think Palestinians and Israelis should continue to use separate roads in the West Bank. Fifty percent described this as a ‘necessary situation’.
Forty-two percent do not want to live in the same building as Arabs or have their children attend classes with Arabs.
