Note: Gallup’s past surveys in the State of Palestine have included Gaza. Gallup has not been able to survey Gaza since 2023 because of ongoing security issues. The data in this article represent the views of Palestinians living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Jewish Israeli-majority areas within the West Bank and East Jerusalem were not included.
LONDON — Three years after the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7 sparked the war in Gaza, relatively few Israelis (26%) and Palestinians living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem (32%) continue to say they support a two-state solution. Majorities in both Israel (65%) and the West Bank and East Jerusalem (58%) do not support the idea.
Gallup has posed this question annually since 2023 in both Israel and the West Bank and East Jerusalem (Gallup has been unable to survey Gaza since the war began). Israeli support has held mostly steady at that low level throughout this period, while Palestinian support has risen marginally from 26% — recorded shortly before October 2023 — to 32% this year.
Both figures remain about half of what they were when Gallup asked this question in 2012, when majorities of Israelis and Palestinians supported the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
Two-State Solution More Politically Divisive in Israel Than Palestine
Although similarly low proportions of Israelis and Palestinians support a two-state solution, the foundations of this support look different along political lines.
In Israel, support for a two-state solution is closely tied to how people feel about their national leadership. Among those who approve of Israel’s current leadership, 5% support the idea of an independent Palestinian state (while 91% do not), compared with 43% among those who disapprove of Israel’s leadership.
In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, however, views of their current leadership have little bearing on support for an independent Palestinian state. The gap between approvers and disapprovers is only seven percentage points, compared with 38 points in Israel, despite overall levels of leadership approval being similar (40% in Israel and 43% in the West Bank and East Jerusalem).
Peace Prospects Also Remain Low
The creation of an independent Palestinian state has long been seen by many in the international community as the best path to lasting peace in the region. However, few on either side expect that permanent peace will ever be achieved (22% of Israelis and 21% of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem).
The current figures are broadly in line with those seen the previous two years. Although optimism about the prospects for peace is marginally higher than the levels from 2023 around the time of the Oct. 7 attacks, it is still a minority opinion for both Israelis and Palestinians.
Support for Two-State Solution More Tied to Hopes for Peace in Israel Than Palestine
Support for a two-state solution isn’t accompanied by equal levels of optimism among Israelis and Palestinians that permanent peace will be realized. Among Israeli supporters of an independent Palestinian state, a clear majority (73%) expect lasting peace to be achieved one day, while 15% do not.
Palestinian supporters of a two-state solution are far more pessimistic, with only 36% believing permanent peace will ever be achieved, while 59% do not.
Bottom Line
The Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, ushered in a new era in the Middle East. Despite the upheaval, views on fundamental questions of peace and Palestinian statehood remain stable and pessimistic on both sides of the conflict.
But underneath such stability lie differences in how Israelis and Palestinians respond to the same questions. In Israel, the idea of an independent Palestinian state is deeply politicized, splitting clearly according to views on current leadership. Among Palestinians, views are less divided along political lines.
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