The poll was supervised by Dr. Shibley Talhami, a professor at Princeton University, the University of Maryland, and UC Berkeley, for the Saban Center for Middle East Studies at the Brookings Institute. The poll has been taken annually since 2002 and surveys a random sample of the educated class.

The poll also found that 50% of Arabs think that Israel will not sign a peace agreement based on the borders of June 4, 1967, while 55% expect violence for years in the region if the current peace process collapses. Despite other problems that have appeared in the Arab world in recent years, such as the war in Iraq, fears of Iran, and the situation in Lebanon, 86% still consider the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the major issue in the Middle East. A total of 100% of respondents in Jordan described the Israeli issue as the most important issue while 99% said that Lebanon was the most important.

According to the poll, the Arab public thinks it is very important for the US to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians (50%)—more important than withdrawal from Iraq (44%) or cutting off security and economic aid to Israel (28%).

The poll also found that the Annapolis conference and the Bush administration’s attempts to weaken Hamas’s position among the Arab public have failed. The poll found that last year Arab public support for Hamas increased: if citizens from the six countries who are not Palestinians had taken part in the Palestinian elections, Haniyeh would have won 47% of the vote, compared to 46% for the PA president.

Reader responses to the article

Where are you and where are we? Not because there’s not anything to improve, but because we’re still a democracy keen to protect human rights. We are flourishing here economically. What do you have? Religious coercion! Wake up—This is what different countries say.

Source: www.ynet.co.il

Israeli Comments

July 1, 2008

By: Yitzhak Benhorin