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Comments (0)The percentage of Arabs who believe a nuclear-armed Iran will help the Middle East situation has doubled since last year.
The annual Brookings Institute poll, released Thursday, found that 57 percent of Arabs think a nuclear-armed Iran will cause a “more positive” situation in the Middle East, up from 29 percent last year.
Meanwhile, 63 percent of respondents were “discouraged” by the Obama administration’s Middle East policies. Last year, 51 percent of Arabs polled said they were “hopeful.”
Shibley Telhami, who conducted the poll, said the disappointment in the Obama administration is based on its handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ynet reported. Just under half of respondents said Israel influences U.S. policy based on its own interests.
The survey was conducted between June 29 and July 30 in Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. Nearly 4,000 Arabs were questioned, with a 1.6 percent margin of error.
Telhami, of the University of Maryland and Brookings Saban Center for Middle East Policy, conducted the survey in conjunction with the Zogby Institute.
According to the poll, there has been no major shift in views about the Arab-Israeli conflict and its resolution.
Irish Artists Pledge Cultural Boycott of Israel
More than 150 Irish artists have said they will participate in a cultural boycott of Israel.
The artists signed a pledge saying that they will not perform or exhibit in Israel or accept funding from institutions linked to the Israeli government, the Irish Times reported last Friday.
The boycott was organized by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which told the Irish Times that the boycott was in protest of Israel’s “treatment of the Palestinian people.”
The pledge says that the boycott will last “until such time as Israel complies with international law and universal principles of human rights.”
Raymond Deane of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign told the Irish Times that this means “at least an end of the occupation of Palestine; dismantling or at least stopping the settlements; and Israel negotiating in good faith with the Palestinians.”
Turkey Overlooks Israeli Envoy
Israel’s ambassador to Turkey was not invited to an annual dinner marking the end of Ramadan.
Gabi Levi did not receive an invitation to the Eid al-Fitr dinner, to which all the diplomats in Turkey have been invited for the past four years, according to reports. The dinner is given by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling religious party.
Turkish media reported over the weekend that the exclusion is meant to show anger over Israel’s interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla, which led to the death of nine Turkish nationals aboard a Turkish-flagged ship.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry called it an “escalation” of the enmity between the two countries that began with the Gaza war.
“We will act responsibly and will not be dragged into the Turkish dance of swords,” the Foreign Ministry said, according to Israeli media reports.