Israeli support for two-state solution falls to all-time low

Less than one in six Israeli Jews has faith that the two-state solution can serve as a viable path to peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

By World Israel News Staff

The number of Israeli Jews who believe that the two-state solution can offer a viable path to ending the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has fallen to the lowest level on record, according to a new poll published this week.

The survey was conducted by the Pew Research Center, polling 998 Israeli Jewish and Arab adults from February 5 through March 11.

Since 2013, Pew has tracked support for the two-state solution and Palestinian statehood, asking Israeli Jews and Arabs if they believe there is anyway that Israel and a Palestinian state could coexist peacefully.

Optimism for the viability of such a scheme was highest when the poll was first conducted, with 50% of Israelis saying they believed it was possible for Israel and a Palestinian state to exist side by side in peace.

Arab Israelis were more likely to express this view, with 74% saying peaceful coexisting could be achieved, compared to just 46% of Israeli Jews who agreed.

That figure fell from 50% among all Israelis in 2013 to just 35% in 2023, prior to the October 7 invasion, before plummeting to 26% in 2024 and 21% this year.

Among Israeli Jews, the post-October 7 decline was even sharper, plummeting from 32% in 2023 to 19% in 2024 and 16% in 2025.

Among Arab Israelis, optimism for the possibility of peaceful coexistence actually rose after October 7, rising from 41% in 2023 to 49% in 2024 before declining again in 2025, falling to 40%.

The biggest obstacles to peace between Israel and the Palestinians are, according to respondents, the lack of trust, which 89% cited as an obstacle, including 75% who said it was a major obstacle.

The future status of Jerusalem was the second biggest issue according to respondents, with 84% calling it an obstacle and 70% saying it constituted a major obstacle.

In a distant third place, the future of Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria was named an obstacle by 71% of respondents, including 52% who named it a major obstacle.

Narrow majorities also cited the internal Israeli political tensions between Left and Right and internecine conflicts in the Palestinian Authority between Hamas and Fatah as obstacles to peace between Israel and the Palestinians.