Four survey studies, conducted in 1997, 2001, 2006 and 2009, reveal that Palestinian support for a two-state solution have decreased at the expense of an increased preference for an Islamic state in the whole of historical Palestine. Also, Palestinians do not believe that peace with Israel can be achieved in the near future, and are ready to continue their struggle against Israeli occupation in the West Bank. The study also reveals that Palestinians are becoming increasingly isolated and hence less exposed to alternative strategies in the conflict with Israel. These attitudinal changes follow the negative developments in the peace process and the violence that erupted between Israelis and Palestinians in September 2000. Consequently, the lack of current public pressure on the Palestinian leadership to find a political compromise with Israel risks continued deadlock in the conflict. These changes also partly explain why Palestinians voted the Hamas movement into power in the January 2006 election.

Egypt is the only country examined here where an outright majority in favor of the two-state solution under the conditions spelled out in the dependent variable exists. On the other hand, there are only four countries (Algeria, Jordan, Palestine, and Sudan) with an outright majority against this version of a two-state solution (2011).

The strong rejection of the proposal among the Algerian public appears to reflect the generally more skeptical attitude toward Israel among Algerian leaders who equated their country’s struggle against France with the Palestinian struggle against Israel (Abadi, 2002).