A total of 70 percent of Israelis say they are "more optimistic", nine percent said that they "more pessimistic" and 20 percent said that Palestinian leader Arafat's death on November 11 would have no impact.

The same survey also found Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is the most popular Israeli politician among 35 percent of respondents, ahead of Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (17 percent) and main opposition Labour party leader Shimon Peres (eight percent).

The poll by researchers at Tel Aviv University questioned 581 people and has a 4.5 percent margin of error.

All rights reserved. © 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.