As Israeli troops evict Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip, Nashville’s Jewish community watches with cautious optimism.

About 2-thirds of Israelis support their government’s choice to hand over control of the coastal area to Palestinians. Rabbi Ronald Roth of Nashville’s West End Synagogue says there’s a similar a level of support here.

“Like the Jewish community in the community of Israel, we have a very significant majority that support the process. Again, understanding it’s very difficult, it’s costly, it’s very painful. We would have liked to have seen it take place with more agreement towards peace from the Palestinians, but we are very much in favor of it.”

The Jewish Federation of Nashville is a group that seeks to foster a sense of community amongst the city’s various Jewish organizations. Executive Director Steve Edelstein says American Jews tend to trust the Israeli government.

“I think that, overwhelmingly, people are supportive of a democratically elected government, even on those occasions when they might question its judgment. I think in this case there’s an overwhelming feeling that the ball has to be back in the court of the Palestinians, and the Prime Minister has effectively done that.”

But Edelstein says a similar hand-over of West Bank territory to the Palestinians would not receive much local support. He says the area is considered by many to be too vital to Israeli security, too valuable for its historic landmarks, and to heavily settled for Jews here to be comfortable with the prospect of losing it.

Several fairly new, small settlements in West Bank are being evacuated and turned over to Palestinians, but the bulk of the region is still under Israeli control.