52% of Israelis support full withdrawal from all occupied Arab lands

Some 52 percent of Israelis support Israel's participation in a regional conference based on the Saudi proposal on a withdrawal from all occupied Arab lands in swap for peace, according to an opinion poll published Friday by the Israeli Ma'ariv newspaper.

Around 47 percent said the Israeli settlements pose a security burden, whereas 43 per cent thought otherwise.

Some 65 per cent reaffirmed confidence in the way Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon was leading the country, while 30 percent disapproved of his policies.

Around 57 percent said they felt more secure since the launching of the Israeli offensive on the West Bank on March 29, while 42 percent viewed that nothing had changed ever since.

Some 75 percent reiterated conviction that the Israeli army had not perpetrated a "massacre" in the Jenin refugee camp, whereas 20 per cent said the army did.