Not just Israel: Palestinians overwhelmingly dislike the US

Just 1% of Palestinians from Judea and Samaria have a positive attitude toward Israel, compared to 6% who have a positive view of the United States.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

The overwhelming majority of Palestinians dislike the United States, according to a new poll, and have generally unfavorable views of other Western countries.

Earlier this month, the People’s Company for Polls and Survey Research (PCPSR), a Ramallah-based polling institute and think tank, published the results from its most recent survey of Palestinian Arabs living in eastern Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip.

The poll was conducted in face-to-face interviews of 1,655 Palestinian Arab adults at 160 locations from October 8-26.

The PCPSR found that 97% of Palestinian Arabs have an unfavorable view of the State of Israel, compared to just 2% who view the Jewish state favorably.

Palestinian Arabs living in Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem were the most likely to hold unfavorable views of Israel, with just 1% saying they viewed Israel favorably, compared to 4% of respondents in the Gaza Strip.

While a majority of all respondents (59%) said they back the two-state solution, just 11% said they support normalization between Israel and the Arab world, including just 5% of Arabs in Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem.

Even in a scenario where Israel agrees to the establishment of a Palestinian state, nearly two-thirds (61%) oppose normalization between Israel and the Arab world, while just 37% support it.

Perceptions of the United States are only slightly more favorable, with 11% of Palestinian Arabs having a positive view of the US, compared to 87% who view the country negatively.

In Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem, just 6% of Arabs have a positive view of the United States.

Palestinian Arabs have marginally more positive views of Europe, though every country listed, along with the European Union, had net-negative views.

Regarding Germany, 74% of Palestinian Arabs said they had an unfavorable view of the country, compared to just 22% who said they view Germany favorably. Among Arabs in Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem, just 13% view Germany favorably.

Just 27% of Palestinians view France favorably, including 18% of Arabs in Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem.

Qatar and Turkey were the only countries listed to receive net-positive scores, while Palestinians were sharply divided on China and Iran.

Notably, more than half said they view Iran’s nuclear program as a critical threat to the national security interests of the Palestinian Authority, while just 20% said it was not a threat to the PA.

Just 11% of respondents approved of President Donald Trump’s foreign policies, including 7% of Arabs in Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem.