A poll suggests that a plurality of eastern Jerusalem Palestinians would rather remain in Israel even after a peace deal and the creation of a Palestinian state.
The survey released last week shows that 35 percent of Jerusalem’s Palestinian residents would choose Israeli citizenship over Palestinian citizenship. Thirty percent said they preferred Palestinian citizenship, while another 35 percent said they did not know.
Respondents who chose Israeli citizenship cited freedom of movement, higher income and Israeli health insurance as the reasons behind their choice.
Pollsters from Pechter Middle East Polls and the Council on Foreign Relations, a U.S. think tank, interviewed 1,039 people. The margin of error for the survey was 3 percentage points. — ap