51% back Palestinian state

JERUSALEM - An annual opinion poll by a leading Israeli think tank has found for the first time that a majority of Israelis support…

JERUSALEM - An annual opinion poll by a leading Israeli think tank has found for the first time that a majority of Israelis support the establishment of, a Palestinian state, a researcher said yesterday. Prof Ashei Arian of Tel Aviv University's Jaffee Centre for Strategic Studies said 51 percent of the 1,216 people polled at the end of February and beginning of March said they hacked a Palestinian state, while 49 per cent opposed the idea. The poll has a margin of error of 2.8 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, yesterday rejected opposition calls for early elections despite lingering doubts over the recent lion scandal.

Israeli soldiers shot and killed one Palestinian and wounded two others yesterday in Haras village just west of Hebron in the West Bank, Palestinians said.