Sixty-five percent of those surveyed said that they were in favour of the creation of a Palestinian state while 30 percent were opposed to the idea while the remainder expressed no opinion.

In addition, 72 percent said that they believed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would accept a Palestinian state.

The poll also found that 60 percent support the evacuation of all Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip while 58 percent back the dismantling of "isolated" settlements in the West Bank.

Sharon has been speaking recently of implementing "unilateral measures" which observers have said are likely to include the evacuation of isolated settlements which are deemend hard to defend.

But the poll found that only 33 percent support the transfer of the Arab neighbourhoods to Palestinian sovereignty and east Jerusalem becoming the capital of a Palestinian state.

A total of 583 were surveyed for the poll carried out by Tel Aviv university which has a 4.5 percent margin of error.

WAR.WIRE