A new survey conducted by the Israeli Regional Initiative shows that a vast majority of Israelis would accept a comprehensive regional peace agreement that included a two-state solution and a normalization of ties between Israel and the Arab states.

This survey presented Israeli adults with a detailed explanation of the outlines of a regional agreement. It found that 50 percent would support such an agreement, while another 34 percent would be willing to accept it.

The Israeli Regional Initiative (IRI) is an organization sponsored by the Yitzhak Rabin Foundation that works to promote a comprehensive peace to the Israeli-Arab conflict. This is one of several studies that they have commissioned on Israeli public opinion and attitudes towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a regional peace process.

The graphic below demonstrates the responses of those asked if they would support a regional peace deal that would include: a two-state solution that would leave Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state; the return of a small, symbolic number of Palestinian refugees to Israel proper; and the opening of full diplomatic, economic and security relations between Israel and the Arab states.

Despite heavy skepticism in Israeli society about the prospects for reaching peace anytime soon, the IRI study is the latest evidence that a large majority of Israelis would support a regional agreement. But as the current Israeli government continues to yield to the demands of the settlement movement and their one-state agenda, the country’s current leadership appears unwilling to seize the opportunities to help turn this vision of a more secure and prosperous Israel into a reality. We can only hope that future leaders will choose differently – and work to achieve peace and a better future for both Israelis and Palestinians.