Majority of Israelis fear visiting Jerusalem

A majority of Israelis has refrained from visiting Jerusalem in the past year due to security concerns, said a poll.

According to the Smith Research Centre poll released on Sunday, 57 per cent of non-Jerusalem residents said they feared visiting the holy city due to recent wave of violence in the capital, the Jerusalem Post reported.

At least 73 per cent of Israeli Jews who were surveyed said they would feel safer if Israel separated the Jewish and Arab neighbourhoods in Jerusalem.

The poll conducted last week, when Avigdor Liberman was appointed the defence minister, found that 85 per cent of people who voted for his Yisrael Beytenu party had feared visiting Jerusalem even once during the past year.

--IANS

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