(Respondents say Bush should apply pressure to both sides) (1000) By Stephen Kaufman Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- A May 2003 survey of the U.S. public reveals that most Americans want to see their government engage in an evenhanded approach to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, to the point of using pressure tactics if one or both sides do not take the steps called for in the Middle East road map. The nationwide poll, conducted by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) and the polling research firm Knowledge Networks, was released May 30 at Washington's National Press Club. The results of the poll indicated that the American public supports the road map plan drawn up by the United Nations, European Union, the United States and Russia, known collectively as the Quartet. University of Maryland professor and Brookings Institute scholar Shibley Telhami said the desire for evenhandedness revealed in the poll contradicts popular images of the U.S. public having a primarily hostile or one-sided view towards the Palestinian issue. "I think it is really quite extraordinary when you look at it in the perspective of what's been going on in the past two and a half years: 9/11, the lead-up to the war with Iraq ... and the extent to which one can argue relations with Arab and Muslim countries have worsened, at least in the public perception, and the extent to which the discourse here has been often hostile discourse as it was there in Arab and Muslim countries towards the U.S.," said Telhami. American views, he said, "remain relatively robust," and the public sees the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a conflict over land, and not in the context of war on terror. "It tells you that the American public is making its mind up somewhat independently from the [media] coverage, and I think that is interesting and it might need reflection particularly in terms of perhaps the fact that this issue has been on the minds of the public for so long," said Telhami. Telhami said the level of U.S. public support for the road map presents a "tremendous opportunity" for the Bush administration as it engages more directly with the two sides. He pointed out that the desire for the United States to play a leadership role in resolving the conflict, even if pressure against either or both sides was deemed necessary, was evident not only in the general public, but also among those who "are likely to vote on the basis of that issue." "What does that tell me?" he asked. "That tells me that if in fact the administration wants to make this issue a priority issue for America, it certainly has the opportunity to make the case and build a political constituency for it." Even more significantly, Telhami, said the survey revealed that even if the road map did not lead to a successful resolution, President Bush would receive support for having seriously attempted to broker a solution. If he did not put strong pressure on Israeli and Palestinian leaders, his approval ratings would fall, said Telhami. "What you find is that the public perception is that even if you fail, trying is more important," he concluded. "And if you don't try, the perception is that you are going to pay a political price." PIPA director Steven Kull gave an overview of the survey, giving more evidence that the U.S. public backs a pro-active U.S. role to get the two sides to take the steps called for in the road map, including the use of U.S. monitors and an increase in aid to both sides if they come to terms in a peace agreement. Kull said that a majority favored equalizing aid to the Palestinians if the negotiations conclude successfully. He also listed the suggested punishments for the two sides that were offered to the respondents. The Palestinians faced having economic aid held back, their leadership being told the U.S. will no longer deal with them, and U.S. pressure against other countries to stop giving aid to the Palestinians. The Israelis faced having their economic and/or military aid held back, spare parts for advanced weapons withheld, or being informed that the U.S. would no longer veto U.N. Security Council resolutions that criticized Israel. According to Kull, the respondents also favored pressure against Arab states if necessary, although the measures were not specified in the poll. Kull pointed out that if Palestinians stopped using violent methods such as suicide bombings in favor of nonviolent forms of protest such as demonstrations, strikes and boycotts, the "support for putting pressure on Israel goes up quite dramatically," with 79 percent in favor and 20 percent opposed. Jerome Segal, Senior Research Scholar at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, said the willingness to use pressure against Israel to reach a peaceful solution seemed to contradict the opinions of Washington's political elite. "They're talking about things like using economic aid to Israel as a lever to force the Israeli government to do things that Israel is claiming is not in its national security interests. And by 63 to 28 percent, you've got the American public saying that they support the use of economic aid as a lever on Israel," said Segal. "So the kind of pressure that Americans are talking about in the expectation that Bush will use under these circumstances is pressure that is on the far end of the spectrum of what's out there and what has been politically imaginable at this point." Segal concluded that because the public expects President Bush to take a pro-active role in resolving the conflict, "I think he's gotten on to this horse and he's going to have to ride it." Full and detailed results of the poll can be found at PIPA's website: http://pipa.org/.