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What Do the Arabs of East Jerusalem Really Want?
(Institute for Contemporary Affairs-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) David Pollock - According to face-to-face surveys conducted according to the highest international standards, more Palestinians in east Jerusalem would prefer to become citizens of Israel rather than citizens of a new Palestinian state. In addition, 40% said they would probably or definitely move in order to live under Israeli rather than Palestinian rule. 44% of the Palestinians in Jerusalem say they are very, or at least somewhat, satisfied with their standard of living. This is a very high percentage compared to other populations in the Arab world. Only about 30% sympathize with either Fatah or Hamas or with the Israeli Arab Islamic movement. Politics is not a major preoccupation. Three-quarters of east Jerusalem Arabs are at least a little concerned, and more than half are more than a little concerned, that they would lose their ability to write and speak freely if they became citizens of a Palestinian state rather than remaining under Israeli control. Significantly, 41% thought that the armed conflict probably or definitely would continue even after a peace agreement, and this is from the most moderate population of Palestinians. Only a third say that a unilateral declaration of Palestinian independence backed by the UN would have a positive effect on their lives. Two-thirds say that such a unilateral step would have no positive effect. For people who tend to assume that a fair and practical solution for the Jerusalem issue is for the Arab neighborhoods to become part of Palestine and the Jewish neighborhoods to become part of Israel, these findings suggest that this could be somewhat problematic from the point of view of the people who actually live in east Jerusalem. The writer is the former chief of Near East/South Asia/Africa research at the U.S. Information Agency and a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.