Israel survey: 38% of Jewish Israelis support annexing West Bank, 22% favour 'relocation' of Palestinians to other countries

New polling from the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) reveals that a significant minority of Jewish Israelis support annexing the entire West Bank, with a substantial portion of those favoring the forced relocation of the Palestinian population. The survey, released this month as part of the think tank's Voice of the Jewish People Index, offers a stark snapshot of Israeli public opinion at a moment when annexation talk has re-entered political discourse and violence in the occupied territory is escalating.

Poll: 38% of Israeli Jews Back West Bank Annexation

Jerusalem, Occupied West Bank — Article continues...

Survey Findings: A Divided Israeli Public

The JPPI survey, conducted among 748 Jewish and Arab respondents, found that 38 percent of Jewish Israelis support annexing the entire West Bank, while 35 percent favor partitioning the territory. Among all Israelis, including Arab citizens, 37 percent supported full annexation, with 30 percent saying the land should be divided. Only 10 percent supported full transfer of sovereignty to the Palestinians, while a slightly larger share said the situation should continue as is.

The findings come as the US administration and Israeli government discuss plans for Gaza's future, and as annexation talk has re-emerged in Israeli political discourse. JPPI President Professor Yedidya Stern said the results indicate "deep pessimism among Israelis" regarding the situation in Gaza, but also reflect broader attitudes toward the West Bank that have shifted significantly in recent years.

Annexation Support and the 'Relocation' Question

Of those Jewish Israelis who support annexation, 22 percent said the Palestinian population should be transferred to Arab countries — a figure that translates to roughly 8 percent of the total Jewish Israeli population. Approximately 14 percent said West Bank Palestinians should be given autonomy following Israeli annexation of the territory, while less than 1 percent said Palestinians should be granted full Israeli citizenship.

The "relocation" finding carries profound legal implications. Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention explicitly prohibits forcible transfers of protected persons from occupied territory, and such actions constitute a grave breach of the convention. The term "transfer" in this context — often referred to as "transfer" in Israeli political discourse — has long been associated with proposals to remove Palestinians from their homes, a policy that human rights organizations have repeatedly condemned as amounting to ethnic cleansing.

Palestinian leaders and human rights advocates have warned that any such policy would constitute a war crime under international law. The International Court of Justice's July 2024 advisory opinion declared Israel's occupation and settlement enterprise unlawful and called for its end, providing additional legal weight to these concerns.

Settlements and Citizenship: What the Numbers Show

The survey also found that 55 percent of Israeli Jews want the country to maintain authority over Jewish settlements in the West Bank in any future agreement with the Palestinians. This figure underscores the deep entrenchment of the settlement enterprise, which now includes more than 500,000 Israeli settlers living among roughly 3 million Palestinians in the occupied territory.

Among Israeli Arabs, the survey found that 19 percent said they would support Israel annexing the West Bank if citizenship were granted to Palestinians living there, while 23 percent said a Palestinian state should be established over the entire territory. These figures reflect the complex and often contradictory attitudes within Israel's Arab minority, which has historically faced discrimination and marginalization.

The near-total absence of support for granting Palestinians citizenship under annexation — less than 1 percent — highlights the fundamental contradiction at the heart of the annexation project. If Israel were to annex the West Bank without granting Palestinians citizenship, it would create a situation in which millions of people live under Israeli control without political rights, a scenario that human rights groups have described as apartheid.

Gaza Pessimism: Deep Distrust in Disarmament Deal

The survey also examined Israeli attitudes toward the recently announced agreement for the disarmament of Hamas in Gaza. Fifty-eight percent of all Israelis — including 63 percent of Jewish Israelis — said they do not believe the deal will be implemented. Fifteen percent said it could lead to partial disarmament, 13 percent expect the deal to actually lead to renewed fighting, and only 3 percent think the group will fully disarm. Notably, no Jewish Israeli respondents said they believed Hamas would fully disarm.

Professor Stern said the findings indicate "deep pessimism among Israelis" regarding Gaza. "This does not indicate a fundamental preference by Israelis for the continued occupation of Gaza, but rather, a deep lack of trust in Hamas's willingness to relinquish its control over the Strip," he said. "This means that, in the opinion of most of us, and in the absence of another plan on the political-security table, Israel is destined to continue to control most of the Gaza Strip in the long term."

The pessimism reflects the broader reality on the ground. More than a year after the ceasefire that ended the 2025 war, Gaza remains in ruins, with much of its infrastructure destroyed and its population facing severe humanitarian conditions. The US-backed plan for disarmament has been met with skepticism from both Israelis and Palestinians, who have seen previous agreements collapse amid mutual recriminations and renewed violence.

What This Means for Palestinians on the Ground

For Palestinians in the West Bank, the survey's findings are deeply alarming. The poll was released as violence and settler attacks on Palestinian communities have intensified, including the siege of the village of Qusra near Nablus, where settlers have repeatedly attacked residents and their property. UN deputy special coordinator Muhannad Hadi warned in August that settlement expansion has accelerated to the point of "de facto annexation," a characterization echoed by Peace Now and other monitoring groups.

The daily reality for Palestinians under occupation is one of checkpoints, land confiscation, home demolitions, and the constant threat of settler violence. The prospect of formal annexation would likely accelerate these trends, entrenching a system of separate and unequal rights that has already drawn international condemnation.

In Qusra and other villages across the northern West Bank, residents describe a relentless campaign of harassment and displacement. Farmers are prevented from reaching their fields, shepherds are attacked, and homes are demolished on the pretext of lacking permits that are nearly impossible to obtain. The international community's response has been largely rhetorical, with statements of concern but little concrete action to hold Israel accountable for its obligations under international law.

International Law and the Annexation Project

The international legal framework governing the occupied Palestinian territory is clear. The Fourth Geneva Convention, to which Israel is a party, prohibits the transfer of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, as well as the forcible transfer of protected persons out of that territory. The International Court of Justice's 2024 advisory opinion affirmed these principles, declaring the occupation itself unlawful and calling for its end.

Despite this, Israel has continued to expand settlements and has taken steps that effectively annex large parts of the West Bank, including the Jordan Valley and areas around Jerusalem. The survey's findings suggest that a significant portion of the Israeli public supports formalizing this reality, even at the cost of Palestinian rights.

Human rights organizations have documented the ways in which the settlement enterprise and the accompanying legal framework create a system of institutionalized discrimination against Palestinians. The Israeli legal system applies different laws to settlers and Palestinians in the same territory, with settlers subject to Israeli civilian law and Palestinians subject to military law. This dual system has been described by leading human rights groups, including B'Tselem and Human Rights Watch, as amounting to apartheid.

Political Context and the Road Ahead

The survey's release comes at a politically volatile moment. The Israeli government has been discussing plans for Gaza's future with the US administration, and annexation has re-entered the political discourse as a viable option for some parties. The results suggest that while a plurality of Jewish Israelis support annexation, there is no consensus on what should happen to the Palestinian population afterward — a question that remains the central unresolved issue of the conflict.

For Palestinians, the survey's findings are a reminder that the international community's failure to hold Israel accountable has allowed annexation to move from the margins to the mainstream of Israeli politics. The two-state solution, long the cornerstone of international diplomacy, appears increasingly remote as facts on the ground continue to shift in favor of annexation.

Professor Stern's observation about Gaza — that Israel is "destined to continue to control most of the Gaza Strip in the long term" — could equally apply to the West Bank. Without a credible political alternative, the occupation is likely to persist, and with it, the daily violations of Palestinian rights that have defined life under Israeli control for nearly six decades.

This article was produced with AI-assisted research and editorial support. Sources: Middle East Monitor, The Jerusalem Post.

By Fatima Al-Rashid, Staff Writer