International Politics of the Middle East

Hamas’ supporters also have more pragmatic attitudes toward peace than many imagine. Polls conducted by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in the years before and after the 2007 rift show that Hamas followers were not relentlessly pro-violence, contrary to the popular misconception.  A majority of Hamas supporters described themselves as being broadly in favor of the peace process (55 percent on average in the polls conducted from March 2006 to December 2008, compared to 86 percent of Fatah supporters). Moreover, in a March 2006 survey conducted in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip 70 percent of Hamas supporters and 84 percent of Fatah supporters also backed full reconciliation between the Palestinian and Israeli peoples if a Palestinian state were established and recognized by Israel. Paradoxically, according to an October 2010 poll, a larger percentage of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip describe themselves as supportive of the peace process (69 percent), compared to only 58 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank. 

An intriguing report in Asharq Alawsat says the US and Israel have been quietly exploring the possibility of a land-lease option for parts of the West Bank.  The proposal is that under a peace deal, Israel would lease some land (including "land in occupied eastern Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley") from the Palestinian Authority for a period of between 40 and 99 years. This is reminiscent of the situation following the Opium Wars in the 19th century when Britain leased parts of Hong Kong from China for a period of 99 years before handing back the whole territory to the Chinese in 1997.