Majorities of Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem do not believe Israel and an independent Palestinian state can coexist peacefully, according to new surveys from Pew Research Center.
Seventeen percent of Israeli adults and 21% of Palestinian adults surveyed said peaceful coexistence is possible. By comparison, 56% in Israel and 68% in the West Bank and East Jerusalem said a two-state solution is not possible.
The surveys were conducted during the spring 2026 Iran war, nearly three years after the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Pew asked respondents whether the two states could coexist, then invited those who answered yes, no or “it depends” to explain their views in their own words.
A minority still sees a path to peace
Among respondents who said coexistence is possible, people on both sides cited a desire for peace, a belief that neither population will disappear and a view that diplomacy is preferable to continued conflict.
Some Israelis and Palestinians pointed to personal relationships, shared work and trade, or earlier periods of cooperation as evidence that coexistence can work. Palestinian respondents were particularly likely to discuss the economic benefits of peace and the interdependence of the two populations.
Others described peace as an eventual necessity rather than an appealing immediate prospect. Respondents said the two peoples must learn to live alongside one another because neither is leaving and because wars ultimately end through political settlements.
Some respondents endorsed two states because they wanted clear borders and political separation. Israelis who made that argument often rejected a shared single state, while Palestinian respondents spoke about independence and limiting Israeli involvement in Palestinian affairs.
Supporters of coexistence also attached conditions. They cited rebuilding trust, making concessions, changing political leadership, educating younger generations to reject hatred and increasing international involvement or security guarantees.
Several Palestinians and Arab Israelis said peace would require an Israeli withdrawal from occupied territory, changes to settlements, fewer checkpoints and restored access to jobs. Other respondents said both sides would need to compromise and halt violence before negotiations could move forward.
Land, occupation and security drive pessimism
Among the much larger group that rejected peaceful coexistence, disputes over land were a central theme. Some respondents on each side said the territory could not or should not be divided, while others asserted that their own people held the sole rightful claim.
Palestinians and some Arab Israelis frequently described the Israeli occupation of the West Bank as the leading obstacle. Their responses cited checkpoints, unemployment, settlements, home demolitions, restricted movement and Israeli control over land and resources.
Jewish Israelis who opposed two states often focused on a different concern: that an independent Palestinian state would pose a security or existential threat to Israel. Some feared that statehood would bring Palestinians more weapons and international support or would require Israel to give up strategically important territory.
The study presents those comments as respondents' views, not as independently verified factual findings. Pew said it did not check the accuracy of statements made in the open-ended responses.
Violence and distrust weigh on both populations
Historical and recent violence was another common reason for rejecting coexistence. Israeli respondents cited the Oct. 7 attack and the war that followed, while Palestinians spoke about deaths, destruction in Gaza and violence by Israeli settlers and forces in the West Bank.
Respondents on both sides described fear and a collapse of trust. Some said agreements would not be honored, while others expressed personal anxiety about living near or interacting with members of the other population.
Religious, cultural and ideological differences also appeared in the responses. Some people described the conflict as irreconcilable or rejected the other side's national identity, legitimacy or right to statehood.
Smaller groups blamed political leaders or said the other side was not interested in peace. Some Israelis said Palestinians lacked a credible negotiating partner, while Palestinians and Arab Israelis criticized the current Israeli government and the growth of far-right politics.
Some say the answer depends on future action
Six percent of Israeli respondents and 1% of respondents in the West Bank and East Jerusalem volunteered that peaceful coexistence “depends.” Their explanations typically focused on whether leaders and populations would accept compromise, recognize each other's rights or change current policies.
Some Israeli respondents said Palestinians would need to accept Israel's right to exist and abandon claims to all the land. Palestinian respondents and some Arab Israelis said Israel would need to end rights violations, halt settlement construction or withdraw from the West Bank.
Other respondents placed responsibility on both sides or called for outside pressure and international guarantees. Several said conditions are currently far from what would be needed for an agreement.
Israeli pessimism remains near a low
Pew has asked Israelis about peaceful coexistence since 2013. The share saying it was possible reached its lowest point in the center's surveys in 2025 and did not change significantly in 2026.
This year marked the first time more than half of Israeli respondents said coexistence was not possible. Among Jewish Israelis, 16% said a two-state solution could work and 64% said it could not.
Responses among Arab Israelis carried a significant nonresponse issue. Forty-six percent declined to answer, while 23% said coexistence was possible and 26% said it was not.
Across all Israeli respondents, 20% did not answer the coexistence question, twice the share that opted out in 2025. In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, 10% did not answer.
How the surveys were conducted
Pew surveyed 1,001 Israeli adults from April 5 through May 6 and 1,038 Palestinian adults in the West Bank and East Jerusalem from March 30 through April 28. Gallup conducted the face-to-face interviews in Hebrew and Arabic, and the results were weighted to represent the adult populations surveyed.
The research did not include Gaza because Pew said security conditions prevented fieldwork there. That means the Palestinian results describe adults in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, not Palestinians across all territories.
Interviewers recorded more than 1,500 substantive explanations, which were professionally translated into English. Three Pew researchers developed a thematic codebook, tested it on a random sample of 149 responses and refined it after reviewing disagreements.
The final 1,585 explanations were divided among the researchers so that two people coded every response. Coding differences were reviewed and reconciled, and a single response could receive more than one thematic code.
Pew cautioned that the people who explained their answers are a subset of all respondents and may not represent the full populations. The report therefore used the open-ended comments to illustrate themes rather than calculate numerical estimates for each reason, and the published quotations were purposefully selected and sometimes shortened for clarity.
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