INSS poll: 46% of West Bank Palestinians say Israel lacks right to exist; majority prefer negotiations

Topic: geopoliticsRegion: Middle EastUpdated: i2 outletsSources: 4Spectrum: Mostly Center⏱ 4 min read⚠ 48h+ old

📰 Scored from 2 outletsacross 1 Center 1 RightHow we score bias →

Story Summary

SITUATION

The Institute for National Security Studies published a poll finding 46% of West Bank Palestinians said Israel does not have a right to exist while 41% said it does (per jpost.com). The survey also found a majority — 52% — prefer negotiations to end the conflict rather than armed resistance, though 42% said bringing about the end of Israel’s existence is possible (per jpost.com).

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Spectrum: Mostly Center🌍US: 1 · ME: 1

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KEY FACTS

46% of West Bank Palestinians surveyed said Israel does not have a right to exist; 41% said it does (per jpost.com).
42% believed it was possible to bring about the end of Israel’s existence, while 32% said it was impossible (per jpost.com).
52% said they would prefer negotiations as a way to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; 12% preferred armed resistance (per jpost.com).
91% expressed concern about IDF operations in the West Bank; 60% reported a low or very low sense of personal security (per jpost.com).

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The immediate backdrop is the broader regional war that began in March 2026 when the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iranian infrastructure — including power plants, air defenses and military sites — and Iran carried out retaliatory operations in response to that campaign.

Within this wider confrontation, Israeli security forces intensified arrests, raids and patrols in the occupied West Bank in the years following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel, a large-scale assault that directly triggered Israel’s major Gaza war and a sustained expansion of West Bank operations.

Brief

A new poll by the Institute for National Security Studies found that 46% of West Bank Palestinians surveyed say Israel does not have a right to exist, while 41% said it does (per jpost.com).

The survey of 400 Palestinians conducted by telephone between June 27 and July 2, 2026, with a margin of error of 4.9%, also recorded sharply ambivalent views about methods for resolving the conflict: 52% said they preferred negotiations as a way to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and 12% preferred armed resistance (per jpost.com).

The poll showed a significant gap between attitudes toward Israel’s legitimacy and preferred tactics — while nearly half reject Israel’s right to exist on principle, a majority nonetheless favors diplomacy over violence, and 57% judged violence to have failed (per jpost.com).

Respondents also reported acute personal insecurity: 91% said they were concerned about Israel Defense Forces operations in the West Bank and 60% said they felt a low or very low sense of personal security (per jpost.com).

The INSS results further indicate persistent beliefs about the feasibility of eliminating Israel: 42% of respondents said they believed it was possible to bring about the end of Israel’s existence, whereas 32% said it was impossible (per jpost.com).

The poll broke out preferred political end-states: 27% favored a two-state solution, 22% supported a single binational state with equal rights, and 26% preferred a single Palestinian state without Jewish presence (per jpost.com).

These results suggest simultaneous rejection of Israel’s legitimacy among a plurality in the West Bank and a pragmatic tilt toward negotiations among a majority — a mix that helps explain why political rhetoric can remain uncompromising even as many Palestinians indicate a preference for diplomatic channels over renewed armed struggle (per jpost.com).

Why it matters

West Bank Palestinians bear concrete costs: 91% reported concern about IDF operations and 60% reported a low or very low sense of personal security, indicating ongoing daily insecurity for residents (per jpost.com).
The Palestinian political scene stands to gain from majority support for negotiations: 52% preference for talks could strengthen leaders and factions willing to pursue diplomacy rather than armed resistance (per jpost.com).
Hardline positions persist: 46% saying Israel lacks a right to exist and 42% saying ending Israel’s existence is possible signal a persistent constituency for maximalist political goals that complicate negotiated outcomes (per jpost.com).
International mediators and Israeli policymakers benefit politically from the diplomacy preference data: the 57% view that violence has failed could be used to justify renewed diplomatic engagement or pressure for talks (per jpost.com).

What to watch next

Whether Palestinian political leaders or negotiators cite the INSS poll results in public platforms or bargaining positions during any diplomatic contacts over the next three months.
Whether Israeli policymakers reference the 91% concern about IDF operations in the West Bank when reviewing operational policy or security measures at the IDF command level.
Whether civil society groups or international mediators promote negotiations given the poll’s 52% preference for talks versus the 12% preferring armed resistance within the next quarter.
Whether follow-up polls track shifts in the 46% rejection of Israel’s right to exist after any major security operation or diplomatic initiative occurring before the end of 2026.

Where sources differ

7 dimensions

Framing differences

Only one outlet (jpost.com) is in this pack; therefore no cross-outlet framing differences are available in this set (per jpost.com).

Disputed or unclear

No source in this pack disputes the poll figures; the dataset is from a single INSS poll reported by jpost.com (per jpost.com).

Omitted context

No source here mentions prior triggering actions or specific recent IDF operations that might explain the 91% concern about IDF operations; that causal detail is omitted (not in jpost.com).
No source in this pack provides demographic breakdowns (age, gender, locality) of respondents that could explain variance in replies (not in jpost.com).
No source here cites Palestinian Authority, Israeli government, or international reactions to the poll results; those accountability and policy responses are omitted (not in jpost.com).
No source mentions longer-term trends or earlier comparable polls to show whether views are shifting over time (not in jpost.com).

Conflicting figures

Only jpost.com figures are available in this pack: 46% vs 41% on Israel’s right to exist; 52% prefer negotiations; 12% prefer armed resistance; 42% say ending Israel’s existence is possible; poll sample 400, conducted June 27–July 2, 2026 (per jpost.com).

Disputed causality

The poll reports high concern about IDF operations but does not link those concerns to any specific IDF action or date; causality between operations and attitudes is not established in the source (per jpost.com).

Attribution disputes