New public opinion surveys conducted among “opinion elites” in Europeshow
that support for the Palestinians has fallen precipitously, according to a
leading international pollster, Stan Greenberg, who has been briefing
Israeli leaders on his findings in the past few days. There has not
necessarily been “a rush to Israel” but there has been a “crash” in backing
for the Palestinians, he noted.

Greenberg, a key pollster for president Clinton who also worked with former
Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, conducted the surveys for the Israel
Project, a US-based non-profit organization devoted to educating the press
and the public about Israel.

Greenberg told The Jerusalem Post that the shifts in attitudes reflected in
the surveys were so dramatic that he “redid” some of the polls to ensure
there had been no error.

He singled out Franceas the country where attitudes had changed most
dramatically. Three years ago, 60 percent of French respondents said they
took a side in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and of that 60%, four out
of five backed the Palestinians. Today, by contrast, 60% of French
respondents did not take a side in the conflict, and support for the
Palestinians had dropped by half among those who did express a preference.

Greenberg said the figures were still being finalized, and so did not go
into further details. But shifts such as these, he said, represented “an
incredible pace of change,” with significant consequences.

Until recently, he said, “It was hard for Israelto communicate its
interests in its own name” in Europe. “It was hard for Israelto be heard.
Nowadays, it is heard on its own interests, such as Iranand Hamas.” Much of
the “old sense of hostility,” had dissipated, he said.

At the root of the change, said Greenberg, was a fundamental remaking in
Europeof the “framework” through which the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is
viewed.

Three years ago, he said, the conflict was perceived “in a post-colonial
framework.”

There was a sense “that Europecould cancel out its own colonial history by
taking the ‘right’ side” – the Palestinian side. Yasser Arafat was viewed as
“an anti-colonial, liberation leader.” The USwas seen as a global imperial
power, added Greenberg, and the fact that it was backing Israelonly added
to the “instinctive” sense of the Palestinians as victims.

France, with the largest Muslim population – moreover an entirely Arab
Muslim population – with the direct experience of Algeria and the most
anti-US positions, was most prey to this mindset.

Today, by contrast, the Europeans “are focused on fundamentalist Islam and
its impact on them,” he said. The Europeans were now asking themselves “who
is the moderate in this conflict, and who is the extremist? And suddenly it
is the Palestinians who may be the extremists, or who are allied with
extremists who threaten Europe’s own society.”

An increasing proportion of Europeans are concluding that “maybe the
Palestinians are not the colonialist victims” after all.
Furthermore, the pollster said, the question of which side held “absolute,”
uncompromising positions had also shifted – to Israel’s benefit. The
sea-change in attitudes, he said, had been accelerated by the fact that
former prime minister Ariel Sharon, who had been widely regarded as an
ideological “absolutist,” had surprised Europewith his disengagement
initiative. And at about the same time, the Palestinians had chosen the
“absolutists” of Hamas as their leadership.

An opinion poll for the Israel Project among “opinion elites” in the US
released last month found that 80% believed that US should not fund the
Palestinian Authority until its Hamas-led government renounced violence,
recognized Israel and ended terrorism, 93% said Palestinian leaders must end
the culture of hate that encourages children to become suicide bombers and
78% had a favorable view of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s
“realignment” plan. Asked if they considered themselves supporters of Israel
or supporters of the Palestinians, 58% in that survey said they backed
Israel, while 10% said they supported the Palestinians. Another 33% said
they supported neither side, were undecided or didn’t know.