Washington, DC—The Pew Research Center did face-to-face interviews with 922 Israelis and 810 Palestinians in March and April of this year. The results showed a positive shift in attitude towards resumption of the peace process among Israelis, but not so among Palestinians. (The margin of error runs between 4.4-4.6.) However, among the key findings of the survey is that “both want U.S. President Barack Obama to play a larger role in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate.” Obama’s popularity in Israel stands at 61 percent, an increase in 12 percentage points since last year. Among Palestinians, 82 percent said they had little or no confidence in him.

You can read the report in its entirety at http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/05/09/despite-their-wide-differences-many-israelis-and-palestinians-want-bigger-role-for-obama-in-resolving-conflict/

While most Israelis believe peace is possible, a plurality of Palestinians believe “armed struggle rather than negotiations or nonviolent resistance is the best way to achieve statehood.”

The report also found that “while Palestinians give the U.S. negative ratings and are nearly unanimous in saying the U.S. favors Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, many join Israelis in welcoming a larger role for the Obama administration in resolving the conflict.”

The survey also examines Middle East Sympathies in countries around the globe. They found that in the U.S., “about half (53%) say they sympathize more with Israel, while just 14% sympathize more with the Palestinians. This is virtually unchanged from the last time the Pew Global Attitudes Project asked this question in 2007.”

Global Middle East Sympathies (see chart below).