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Asked how much faith they have that the government's negotiations with the Palestinian Authority would lead to a permanent agreement, 54 percent of Jews and 58 percent of Arabs polled said they thought it would. On the other hand, 44 percent of Jews and 39 percent of Arabs did not believe this.

Similar sentiments were also the result of a question on whether a permanent settlement can be reached based on the formula "two states for two nations." Among Jews polled, 57 percent believed this is possible, as did 60 percent of Arabs. A total of 42 percent of Jews did not believe this was possible, as did 36 percent of Arabs.

Among Arabs, 79 percent preferred open borders compared to just 27 percent of Jews, in answer to the question.

Sixty-five percent of Jews were in favor of a closed border, with 3 percent favoring borders open only for Jews and none questioned in favor of opening it only for Palestinians. Among Israeli Arabs, 18 percent were in favor of closed borders.

Asked about loyalty of Israeli Arabs to a possible Palestinian state, 54 percent of Jews said they believed their fellow Arab citizens would be more loyal to a Palestinian state than Israel, 19 percent to both states, 18 percent to Israel, and 9 percent didn't know.

Among Israeli Arabs, 43 percent said they would continue to be loyal to Israel, with only 18 percent more loyal to a Palestinian state. One in four felt they could be loyal to both states and 15 percent said they didn't know.

The telephone poll was carried out between Nov. 16 to 17 and encompassed 500 randomly chosen adult Israeli Jews and Arabs. It has a 4.5 percent margin of error.