Hope for peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians has fallen to strikingly low levels. According to a new Pew Research Center survey, only 17% of Israelis and 21% of Palestinians surveyed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem believe Israel and an independent Palestinian state can peacefully coexist. A majority on both sides expressed the opposite view: 56% of Israelis and 68% of Palestinian respondents said peaceful coexistence was not possible. Among Jewish Israelis specifically, just 16% believed coexistence was achievable, while 64% said it was not. The Palestinian survey did not include Gaza because security conditions prevented Pew from conducting interviews there. For Israel, the findings mark the first time since Pew began asking the question in 2013 that a majority has explicitly said peaceful coexistence with a Palestinian state is impossible.
The reasons given reveal how deeply the conflict has hardened attitudes. Israelis skeptical of coexistence frequently cited security concerns, including fears that a Palestinian state could become hostile, acquire weapons, or provide another platform for attacks against Israel. Palestinian respondents pointed instead to Israeli settlements, checkpoints, restrictions on movement, and Israeli control over disputed territory. Both populations also mentioned decades of violence, competing claims to the land, and an enormous breakdown of trust. There were still respondents on both sides who believed negotiations, defined borders, political changes, and stronger leadership could eventually make peace possible, and separate polling has shown some increased Palestinian support for negotiations. But the overall picture from Pew is unmistakable: after years of terrorism, war, failed negotiations, and bloodshed, Israelis and Palestinians increasingly look across the divide and doubt that political agreements alone can produce lasting peace.