A majority of Israelis would support holding negotiations with a Palestinian unity government that includes the Islamic Hamas movement, according to the results of a joint Palestinian-Israeli poll released on Tuesday.

Sixty-seven percent of Israeli respondents said such a step could be a necessary requisite for achieving a peace agreement with Palestinians.

The survey, which polled some 1,270 Palestinians, 500 Israeli Jews and 401 Israeli Arabs, was conducted as a coordinated effort between the Truman Institute of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Khalil Shikaki, of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah. The survey was conducted in two parts, the first at the end of August and the second between September 10-19.

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Another 56 percent of Israeli said they would support negotiations with the current Hamas government, while 43 percent of Israelis said they would oppose such a move.

Support within the Palestinian sector for negotiations with Israel have dwindled, however, with 59 percent of Palestinians in support of negotiations between Israel and the Hamas-led Palestinian government and 38 percent opposed. This represents a marked decline from a June survey, in which 70 percent of Palestinian respondents said they support Hamas negotiations with Israel.

Sixty-three percent of Palestinian respondents support Palestinians adopting Hezbollah methods of attacking Israeli towns with rockets, while 38 percent said they were opposed to this type of action. Some 57 percent of Palestinian respondents said they supported bombing attacks against Israeli civilians, and another 75 percent said they supported kidnapping Israel Defense Forces soldiers.

Still, 74 percent said it would not be worthwhile to rely on violence alone and that a political solution would have to be reached.

The poll also revealed that 56 percent of respondents oppose withdrawal from the Golan Heights in exchange for a peace agreement with Syria.

Seventy-seven percent of Israeli Jews said they believed Israeli Arabs have an affinity toward the Hezbollah guerilla group, compared to 68 percent of Israeli Arabs who responded positively to the same question.

Some 70 percent of Israeli Arabs said they believed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah took their fate into consideration, compared 24 percent of Israeli Jews who answered the same question.

Twenty-four percent of Israeli Arabs, compared to one percent of Israeli Jews, said they believed the war in Lebanon had been launched primarily over control of the Shaba Farms region.

Eighty-four percent of Israeli Arabs said Israel should not have gone to war in Lebanon, while 21 percent of Israeli Jews believed it had been a mistake to go to war.