Govt should be neutral in Middle East conflict: Poll

Tony Hotland ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 07/02/2008 10:53 AM  |  World

A global opinion poll has found that people in 14 out of 18 countries said their government should not take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The poll found that the public in most countries thought the United Nations should play a greater role in the Middle East conflict, and should offer to send peacekeepers not only to enforce an eventual agreement, but to guarantee the security of Israel, Palestine and their Arab neighbors.

"Publics around the world are not cheering for either side and want their governments to take an even-handed approach," said Steven Kull, director of poll organizer WorldPublicOpinion.org -- a collaborative research project involving research centers from around the world and managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland.

The poll of 18,792 respondents also found that world public opinion gave low marks to Israel, Palestine, the United States and Arab countries when asked how well they were doing in efforts to resolve the conflict.

On average 58 percent of those polled said they believed their country should not take sides in the bloody conflict over territory, which has lasted for decades. Only 20 percent said their country should favor the Palestinians and 7 percent the Israelis.

The poll also found that Israel received the worst ratings in public opinion, as majorities in 13 countries, or 54 percent, said the Israelis were "not doing very well" or "not doing well at all" in efforts to end the conflict.

Palestinians did not fare much better, with respondents in 10 countries, or 47 percent, saying the Palestinians were not doing their part either.

Twelve of the countries, or 59 percent, viewed the role of the United States negatively. Forty-six percent of U.S respondents said their government, a staunch supporter of Israel, was not doing its part well, as opposed to 44 percent who said it was.

Interviews were conducted in countries including most of the largest nations -- China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Russia -- as well as Mexico, Peru, Great Britain, France, Spain, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Thailand and South Korea.

The survey was fielded between Jan. 10 and May 6, and margins of error range from +/- 2 to 4 percent.

In Muslim-dominated Indonesia, the survey found the greatest percentage of public opinion thinking that the Palestinians were doing their part well to resolve the conflict.

A plurality of Indonesians, 43 percent, said their nation should not take sides in the conflict. Thirty-eight percent said Indonesia should take the Palestinian side, while 7 percent favored Israel.

Of Indonesians polled, 60 percent were critical of United States efforts to resolve the conflict, and 66 percent were critical of Israeli efforts.

Indonesia will co-host with South Africa next week here in Jakarta a two-day ministerial conference of Asian and African countries on capacity building for Palestine.

The conference, coming after the Annapolis Conference and the Paris Donor Conference late last year, will focus on pledges to field technical assistance to help Palestine with various projects in the fields of governance, sports, health, education and others.

Indonesia said it was expecting representatives from 109 countries and five international organizations -- the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The Foreign Ministry has dispatched 11 special envoys to 40 key states to ensure their attendance.

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