Few residents of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank believe George W. Bush actually intends to assist in the creation of a Palestinian state by the end of this year, according to a poll by An-Najah National University. 80.3 per cent of respondents think the United States president is not faithful in his promise.

In November 2007, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas and leaders from the United States, Israel and several Arab countries attended an international conference on Middle East affairs in Annapolis, Maryland. The meeting was brokered by Bush. On Nov. 27, Abbas and Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert announced they would work towards having a peace treaty signed by the end of 2008, which would include the creation of a Palestinian state.

The former British mandate of Palestine was instituted at the end of World War I, to oversee a territory in the Middle East that formerly belonged to the Ottoman Empire. After the end of World War II and the Nazi holocaust, the Zionist movement succeeded in establishing an internationally recognized homeland. In November 1947, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the formation of a Jewish state.

In 1948, the British government withdrew from the mandate and the state of Israel was created in roughly 15,000 square kilometres of the mandate’s land, with the remaining areas split under the control of Egypt and Transjordan. Since then, the region has seen constant disagreement between Israel and the Palestinians, represented for decades by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Wars broke out in the region in the second half of the 20th Century, involving Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt.

Around 750,000 Palestinians fled or were forced to leave their territory during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. An independent Palestinian state is considered the main provision of the road map for peace in the Middle East, developed by The Quartet, which includes the U.S., the UN, the European Union (EU) and Russia.

On Dec. 20, Bush delivered his final State of the Union address. In his speech, the American president discussed the situation in the Middle East, saying, "Palestinians have elected a president who recognizes that confronting terror is essential to achieving a state where his people can live in dignity and at peace with Israel. Israelis have leaders who recognize that a peaceful, democratic Palestinian state will be a source of lasting security. This month in Ramallah and Jerusalem, I assured leaders from both sides that America will do, and I will do, everything we can to help them achieve a peace agreement that defines a Palestinian state by the end of this year. The time has come for a Holy Land where a democratic Israel and a democratic Palestine live side-by-side in peace."

Polling Data

Do you think that the U.S. president is faithful in his promise to help in the creation of a Palestinian state by the end of this year?

Yes

11.4%

No

80.3%

No opinion

8.3%

Source: An-Najah National University
Methodology: Interviews with 1,360 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, conducted from Jan. 26 to Jan. 28, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.