JERUSALEM: A slight majority of Israelis support the resumption of settlement construction in the occupied West Bank when a partial moratorium expires later this month, a poll published on Tuesday found.
The poll by the Dahaf Institute found pessimism running high as the Israeli and Palestinian leaders gathered in Egypt for a second round of direct peace talks, which could collapse if a dispute over settlement building is not resolved in the next fortnight.
The Palestinians have repeatedly said they will walk out if Israel does not extend the moratorium, while Israel’s right-wing government is strongly opposed to any further restrictions on settlement construction.
Just over half — 51 percent — of those surveyed thought Israel should resume construction when the freeze expires on September 26, while 39 percent said it should be extended, the poll found.
However, 42 percent said they would support a compromise whereby Israel would only build in major settlement blocs, with 32 percent saying construction should be fully renewed and 20 percent favouring a "comprehensive" freeze.
A strong majority of 71 percent did not believe the current round of talks would lead to a peace agreement, while 68 percent believed the resumption of settlement construction would derail the negotiations, the poll found.
Israelis were nearly evenly divided when asked if they would accept a peace deal where Israel withdrew from most of the occupied territories in exchange for Palestinian recognition of it as a Jewish state, with 45 percent in favour and 48 percent opposed.
The poll was based on interviews with 501 Israelis and had a margin of error of 4.5 percent, the institute said.
Meanwhile, The Israeli military has failed to investigate its forces for killing dozens of Palestinian civilians in recent years, spawning a climate of impunity for soldiers, a human rights group said on Tuesday.
"Soldiers who kill Palestinians in the occupied territories are almost never held accountable, even if the circumstances raise a grave suspicion that they acted criminally," the Israeli group B’Tselem said.
"This policy permits soldiers and officers to act in violation of the law, encourages a trigger-happy attitude and shows a flagrant disregard for human life," it added.
The Israeli military would not immediately comment on the report.
B’Tselem said that from 2006 to 2009 the military had opened investigations into just 23 of 148 cases in which 288 civilians were killed.
Another 41 of the cases were dismissed, while the military has yet to issue any decision on the remaining 84. No criminal charges have been brought in any of the cases, B’Tselem said.
During the period in question Israeli troops killed 1,510 Palestinians, including 617 civilians, the group said.
The figures do not include the December 2008 to January 2009 war in Gaza, in which more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed.
B’Tselem said the problem was in part due to the official classification of the situation in the occupied territories as an "armed conflict" despite the fact that there has been little violence in the West Bank in recent years.
The classification dates back to the 2000 outbreak of the Palestinian intifada. The initial years of the uprising saw scores of suicide bombings in Israel and massive military operations across the West Bank and Gaza.
