A University of Haifa poll released Monday reveals that a majority of the Jewish public in Israel - 63.7 percent - believes that the government should encourage Israeli Arabs to emigrate from Israel.More disturbing news: Reuters reports that "Israel is considering moving settlers slated for evacuation from Gaza to expanded West Bank enclaves despite U.S. objections to the Jewish state cementing a hold on occupied land."
The survey, conducted by the university's National Security Studies Center, also found that 48.6 percent of the Israeli Jews polled said the government was overly sympathetic to the Arab population.
Compared to similar polls conducted in 2001 and 2003, the current survey indicates an increase in the public's extremism.
The majority of Jewish respondents, 55.3 percent, said Israeli Arabs endangered national security, while 45.3 percent of those polled said they supported revoking Israeli Arabs' right to vote and hold political office. [more]
As many feared, this makes Sharon's "disengagement" from Gaza look like a pretext to gain a stronger foothold in the West Bank, akin to what Israel is accomplishing with the construction of its security barrier/apartheid wall.
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