The U.S. has a long way to go in terms of persuading Arabs that it plays a positive role in the Middle East.
About 82 percent of survey participants in 12 Arab countries said they believed the U.S. poses a threat to stability in the region, according to a poll unveiled in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday. The 2016 Arab Opinion Index, conducted by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in Doha, Qatar, found that among foreign powers, only Israel was perceived to be a bigger threat. About 90 percent of survey respondents reported that Israel is a threat to the region’s stability.
The Index, an annual survey first conducted in 2011, comes on the heels of the U.S. bombing of Syria in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Of the 18,310 survey respondents contacted in 2016, 77 percent said they had negative views of U.S. foreign policy toward Syria. Imad Harb, director of research and analysis at the Arab Center Washington DC, an affiliate of the Doha-based group, said he couldn’t predict how the recent U.S. military action would change regional opinion. “This is garnering some positive views,” he said, adding that there is also plenty of anxiety in the Arab world about what comes next.
U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East remained unpopular across the board, with 80 percent of respondents reporting negative views of U.S. actions in Palestine, and more than 70 percent reporting negative perceptions of U.S. involvement in Iraq, Yemen and Libya.
Iran and Russia also didn’t fare well in terms of public opinion. Of all respondents, 73 percent said Iran posed a threat to the stability of the region, and 69 percent believed Russia did so.
Arab public opinion toward the Islamic State group also is negative. Of all respondents, 89 percent had poor perceptions of the terrorist organization, while 2 percent had “very positive” views and 3 percent reported perceptions that were “positive, to some extent.” Favorable views of the Islamic State group did not correlate with religion.
Respondents had various takes on the rise of the Islamic State group. About 60 percent attributed the group’s existence to the policies of foreign powers, while 29 percent attributed it to internal conflicts in the Middle East. When asked whether the group’s rise is a product of “religious extremism and fanaticism in the Middle East,” 43 percent reported yes, while 35 percent blamed the policies of Arab governments.
The poll found a decline in positive attitudes toward the Arab Spring. In 2012-2013, 61 percent of respondents had positive views of the Arab Spring, while in 2016, 41 reported positive views. Egypt and Tunisia had the most positive views, with 78 and 71 percent of the public expressing positive impressions, respectively.
Experts said they were surprised to find that 55 percent of Saudi Arabians and 65 percent of Kuwaitis had positive views of the Arab Spring, despite events since 2011. “There is a lot of talk going on in Saudi and Kuwaiti society,” Harb said. “Democracy and freedom of speech can appear in different ways.”
Other survey findings:
— Only 41 percent of respondents viewed the political situation in their country positively.
— Of all respondents, 77 percent reported that democracy was the most appropriate system of government for their countries; whereas 34 percent considered a government built on Sharia law to be the most appropriate.
— Out of all respondents, 70 percent disagreed that democracy is incompatible with Islam.
— A small majority, or 53 percent, believed it was best to separate religion from politics.
— A majority, or 86 percent, of respondents disapproved of their countries’ recognition of Israel, citing Israeli racism toward Palestinians and the country’s “colonialist, expansionist” policies.
The Index, the largest of its kind in the world, surveyed people in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Tunisia. Those countries are home to 75 percent of the Arab population, and are therefore a representative sample, said Soleman Abu-Bader, a methodology consultant for the survey. Efforts to collect data in other countries was complicated by political barriers or instability, he said.
The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies is an independent research institute that examines the key issues afflicting the Arab world, governments, and communities.
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Poll: Arabs Believe Israel, U.S. Are Biggest Threat to the Region originally appeared on usnews.com
