Eight in ten Israelis cynical about Palestinian peace talks

Johannesburg: Majority of Israelis believe that peace talks between Israel and Palestine, brokered by the United States, will not yield a positive outcome, a new survey has revealed. According to the survey conducted by the Maariv newspaper, out of the 507 Jewish and Arab Israeli respondents, 80 percent believe that negotiations will prove unfruitful.

Interestingly, the poll result has been released a week after the recent visit of US Secretary of State John Kerry, who has been playing mediator between the two war-torn countries to put an end to their age long feud, News 24 reported. While 73 percent of Israelis are unsupportive of complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank following peace negotiations, another poll suggests that 70 percent of its 500 Jewish respondents are against the troupes retreating from the Jordan valley. Even as Palestinians are insistent on the international military force taking over the border, the Israelis are sceptical about the involvement of John Kerry in bringing peace to Israel and Palestine.