JERUSALEM: More than half of Israelis would support peace talks with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas if it recognised Israel, a poll published yesterday said. The results of the survey conducted by the Israeli Dialog Institute seemed to suggest Israelis were blaming Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a Hamas rival, for a deadlock in peace talks, more than Israel’s rightist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Haaretz newspaper wrote.

A peace plan floated on Sunday by a former defence chief, Shaul Mofaz, suggesting possible talks with Hamas if the Islamists were to drop their refusal to recognise Israel, was backed by 57 percent of Israelis, the poll showed. It also showed an increasing majority backing Netanyahu.

Mofaz, number two lawmaker in Israel’s largest opposition party, Kadima, also proposed giving Palestinians 60 percent of West Bank land for a state and compensating Jewish settlers to leave these areas. Western countries have said they would engage Hamas only if it renounced violence, accepted interim peace deals with Israel and recognised its right to exist. Abbas had threatened to avoid standing for reelection, blaming Netanyahu for a delay in peace talks stalled since December. He has since agreed to delay a scheduled Palestinian poll after objections voiced by Hamas.