New poll shows that 68.4% of Israeli Jews fear an Arab uprising

Fadi Eyadat:

68.4 percent of Israeli Jews fear a civil uprising on behalf of Israeli Arabs and 63.3 percent say they won't enter Arab towns in Israel, according to the results of the 2006 index of Jewish-Arab relations released on Monday.

The poll also showed that 62 percent of the Arab population in Israel fears that the "triangle" area will be ceded to a future Palestinian state and 60 percent say they fear a mass expulsion from Israel.

The survey, which was administered by the dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Haifa, Professor Sami Smooha, polled 1,423 Jewish and Arab Israelis on a wide range of issues dealing with the rift between Jews and Arabs in Israel.

According to the poll, 80 percent of Jews said that in future agreements dealing with the borders and demographics of Israel, the state must retain a Jewish majority.

Furthermore, 64.4 percent of Jews polled said they feel that Israeli Arabs pose a security risk to the state through their high birth rate, and 83.1 percent said Israeli Arabs are a security risk due to their support of the Palestinians.

On the other hand, the poll shows that fears among the Israeli Arab population, with 80 percent saying they fear mass land expropriations on the part of the state, and 73.8 percent saying they fear they will suffer violence from Israeli authorities, and 71.5 percent from Israeli citizens.

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