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Global survey: Arabs want closer ties with Israel, world losing interest in Palestinians

A global survey found that Muslim states want closer ties with Israel. Among all countries surveyed, over half showed little interest in the Palestinian conflict.

By David Isaac, World Israel News

A global survey commissioned by Israel’s Foreign Ministry to discern attitudes throughout the world about the Jewish State have revealed surprising results where Muslim countries are concerned – that in many cases the populations want closer ties with Israel, even in Iran.

Daily paper Israel Hayom, which reported the results last Wednesday, said that 75 percent of those queried thought that relations with Israel would be good for their countries.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry highlighted in particular the results from Muslim countries, which found that large segments of the general population wanted better relations with Israel.

Percentage of population interested in ties with Israel:

Iraqis – 43%

Emiratis – 42%

Moroccans – 41%

Iranians -34%

Tunisians – 32%

Saudis – 23%

Algerians – 21%

The surveys were taken without the knowledge of the participants that the polls had been commissioned by Israel, Israel Hayom reports.

An additional question in the survey asked whether the Palestinian Authority was the main obstacle on the road to peace in the Middle East.

The poll found that over half of those  polled on averagedidn’t have a position on the issue.

According to a senior official in the Israeli Foreign Ministry, quoted by Israel Hayom, “In connection to the Palestinians, the meaningful figure is just how uninterested the global public is in the conflict.”

“In contrast, Israel is seen as a country with which it’s worth having relations. It’s a positive trend because people see Israel’s strengths,” the official said.

Also encouraging for Israel, the polls found that a significant majority of Latin American countries supported moving their embassies to Jerusalem, Israel Hayom reports.

In the global survey, participants were also asked about Iran. In every region of the world, more people didn’t believe than believed that Iran had ceased its nuclear weapons development. The region where the population believed it the least was the Middle East.

Q: Do you believe that Iran has ceased developing nuclear weapons?

Region                         Believe            Don’t Believe

North America            18%                 33%

Western Europe          18%                34%

Middle East                 15%                 43%

Africa                            22%                37%