US voters support divided Jerusalem
Regional-USA, Politics, 8/19/1999

By a margin of two to one, American voters support Al Quds (Jerusalem) serving as a "divided capital" for Israelis and Palestinians, according to a poll commissioned by the Arab-American Institute and conducted by Zogby international of Utica, New York.

The August 10 poll surveyed 952 likely voters nationwide, with a margin of error of 3.3 %.

In addition to supporting a shared Jerusalem between Israelis and Palestinians, voters also agreed with the US administration's decision to delay moving the U.S embassy to Jerusalem. Asked if they support congressional legislation to move the US embassy to Jerusalem in recognition of Israel's exclusive claim to Jerusalem as its capital, only 26 % agreed with congress. However 40 % agreed with the administration's use of a waiver to delay the embassy move until the city's status is negotiated.

By more than a five to one margin, voters overwhelmingly support a delay of a US embassy relocating to Jerusalem until a final peace agreement is reached.

When told that "some members of congress and presidential candidates want the US to immediately recognize Israel's claim over Jerusalem" while "the administration says that the us should not take any action until peace negotiations are complete," 68% supported "taking no action on Jerusalem until a final peace agreement is reached."

Only 12.5 % of voters "support recognizing Israel's claim over Jerusalem" as their eternal unified capital.

"Once again we see that the American public overwhelmingly supports Middle East peace, even as some members of congress, and some presidential candidates, seek to undermine the peace process. Candidates need to know that political pandering on Jerusalem and disrupting middle east peace are not supported by American voters," stated AAI president James Zogby.

Previous Stories:
  APU final statement calls for Middle East peace   (6/30/1999)
  Muslim and world experts discuss Jerusalem's future   (9/30/1998)
  Jerusalem committee calls for halting normalization with Israel   (7/31/1998)

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