American Public Opinion and the Palestinian State.

"American Public Opinion and the Palestinian State" examines the role of public opinion on US foreign policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Specifically, it looks at the evolution of public opinion towards Palestinian statehood and the influences of pro-Arab and pro-Israel lobbying groups on the two-state solution. To do that, the paper focuses on four distinct periods in the history of American foreign policymaking: 1. during the late 1970s after the signing of the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel through the 1980s "strategic alliance" between the Jewish state and the US; 2. the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, roughly the period of George H. W. Bush's presidency, the height of the Intifada, and the end of the Cold War; 3. in the 1990s after the Madrid and Oslo peace talks; and 4. after the "end of the peace process" and 9/11/2001. This paper concludes that while public opinion is important to American foreign policy thinking, change took place only gradually while pro-Arab and pro-Israel pressure groups had important parts to play in elite decision-making and at the level of popular sentiment concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]