Muslims have low expectations that US will create Palestinian state

Out of 21 countries polled, only in the Palestinian territories did a plurality of respondents say the US definitely intended to create a Palestinian state.

By MAX SOCOL
Palestinian flag 248.88 (photo credit: AP)
Palestinian flag 248.88
(photo credit: AP)
A massive World Public Opinion survey that took the temperature of perceived relations between the United States and the Muslim world revealed Sunday that out of 21 countries polled, only in the Palestinian territories did a plurality of respondents say the US definitely intended to create a Palestinian state. The global survey of 21,740 participants spanned North American, Asian, African, and European countries, as well as Azerbaijan, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and the Palestinian territories. In each of the questions, which focused on military and diplomatic policy, as well as popular perception, the US took a significant bruising, with most respondents critical of the world leader's efforts to reach out to the global Muslim community. The survey's first question concerned the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, asking whether "the creation of an independent and economically viable Palestinian state… is or is not a US goal." In context, Palestinians were overwhelmingly optimistic regarding their impending statehood. Aside from the 36 percent who were certain the US wanted to create a Palestinian state, another 23% thought it "probable" that this was a US goal. Only 37% were skeptical. In contrast, in other Middle Eastern countries, an average of only 11% of respondents were certain that the US intended to create a Palestinian state, and only 7% considered it likely. On both counts, Turkey was the most positive, at 21% and 12%, respectively. On the other hand, an average of 17% of respondents in those countries thought it unlikely that the US intended to create a Palestinian state, and more than half of all respondents were certain that the US had no such intention. The last number got a big bump from Egypt, where 80% of respondents believed that a Palestinian state was definitely not a US goal. Respondents were also asked whether the US was respectful of the Islamic world, whether maintaining US military bases in the Persian Gulf region was a good or bad idea, and whether people in the Middle East were for or against those bases. In each case, a majority of respondents answered negatively, believing that the US was disrespectful toward Islam, and that its military bases were neither advisable nor desired by those living around the Gulf.