Poll: Half of public thinks joining Oslo process was the right move

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Despite the ongoing and widespread disappointment with Oslo, the prevailing view today is that Yitzhak Rabin's decision to enter the process was correct, and that the decision was his own, rather than forced on him by the circumstances. At the same time, it is generally believed that even if he had not been assassinated and had continued to serve as prime minister, the process Rabin began would not have brought a peace agreement with the Palestinians to this day.

As for Rabin's leadership, the prevailing view in the Jewish public is that he was a moderately good leader, with the other opinions divided between those who see him as an outstanding one and those who think he was average or less as a leader. These assessments jibe with the responses to a question on who, in another 50 years, will be considered the best prime minister Israel has had until then: Rabin came in third, after Israel's two mythological leaders David Ben-Gurion and Menachem Begin, and only a little before current prime minister Ariel Sharon.

However, regarding the permeation of the basic ideas of Oslo and primarily the idea of conceding territories for peace we find a dominant view that this has become part of the national consensus. At the same time, an overwhelming majority of the Jewish public believes that even if Israel evacuates all the territories beyond the Green Line and the occupation ends, Palestinian violence will not stop and may even intensify.

The deep mistrust of the Palestinians is also evident in views on the current situation. A decisive majority believes Sharon is justified in refusing to meet with Abu Mazen (Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas), despite the perception that Abu Mazen wants to prevent terror attacks but is unable to. A clear majority also says that even if Hamas becomes part of the government after the PA elections, it will not moderate its positions toward Israel nor its involvement in terror attacks. There is, however, a division into two more or less equal camps on whether, in such a case, Israel should or should not hold negotiations with the PA.

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