(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
By Mohamed Osman
DOHA: The Arab world is overwhelmingly opposed to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) with 89 percent of participants in an opinion poll conducted in several Arab countries saying they don’t approve of the organisation.
Only seven percent respondents said they thought of the ISIL positively. The Arab Opinion Index (AOI) 2015 was conducted in 12 Arab countries.
The results of the poll showed that those who expressed support for the ISIL also known as Islamic State or IS or ISIS drew from both “very religious” and “not religious” people and those who backed separation of religion from state as well as its opponents.
The support for the radical extremist organisation where it exists is rooted in political grievances in the Arab region and local conflicts and not in religious ideology said Dr Mohammed Almasri Executive Director of Doha-based Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies and coordinator of the AOI.
Almasri who presented the results of AOI for 2015 here yesterday said it is the largest public opinion poll conducted in the Arab world and the findings are being released for the fourth consecutive year by the Arab Centre.
The survey’s outcome is based on direct interviews conducted in 12 Arab countries with 18311 respondents. The result provides scholars and policy-makers an opportunity to understand the views of Arab citizens on the most pressing topical issues including their opinion on the Iranian nuclear deal; the growth of radical extremism and in particular ISIL; and the Syrian revolution.
The Index also allows comparisons in the Arab public attitudes towards the main issues surveyed in all AOI polls since its launch in 2011.
According to Almasri the poll also surveyed views and attitudes of the respondents towards democracy the relationship between religion and civil and political affairs and the future prospects of their home countries.
In fact “sectarian tensions in Iraq and Syria” were cited by more than one-fifth of respondents as a main factor which contributed to the rise of ISIL said Almasri elaborating with the help of graphics.
The results of the poll showed that no consensus exists among the Arab people over the best measures by which to combat ISIL and armed terrorist groups in general.
This reflects both the complexity of the issue and the sophisticated attitudes of the Arab public towards it.
The respondents cited different measures as the most important in combating ISIL including: supporting democratic transition in the region (28 percent); resolving the Palestinian issue (18 percent); ending foreign intervention (14 percent); intensifying the military campaign against ISIL (14 percent); and solving the Syrian crisis in line with the aspirations of the Syrian people (12 percent) would effectively end the threat of terrorism.
Compared to the previous years’ polls this year results showed that 62 percent of respondents believe that changing the Syrian regime is the ideal means to end the crisis.
Along with the crisis attention in the Arab world has also been sharply focused on negotiations covering Iran’s nuclear energy programme and its ability to arrive at an agreement with a group of important world powers (5+1). Since 2011 there has been increased desire among the Arab public for the Middle East to be declared a nuclear weapons-free zone yet many respondents agreed that Israel’s possession of nuclear weapons justified attempts by other regional powers to acquire such weapons.
While the Iranian nuclear programme has a stated aim which is limited to the production of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes the rising opposition to nuclear weapons in the Middle East is related to negotiations which preceded the Iranian nuclear agreement and Iran’s involvement in the affairs of Arab countries in the greater Levant has also heightened this interest.
More Arabs believe that Israel will benefit from the Iranian nuclear agreement and lesser number of Arabs believe that Arab states stand to gain by rapprochement between Tehran and the West. The results of the poll show that 40 percent of respondents support the Iranian nuclear deal: and 32 percent oppose because of Iranian policies in the region.
Thirty-one percent of respondents formed their supporting or opposing opinion regarding the nuclear deal on rejection to Iran’s interference in the affairs of some Arab states threatening their national security.
Arab citizens are optimistic regarding the future of Arab revolutions which started in 2011: where 48 percent of respondents believe the Arab Spring is facing challenges and obstacles but will succeed in achieving its aims. However the results of AOI showed that 34 percent of the public view the Arab revolutions and the Arab Spring as positive developments while 59 percent expressed a negative view.
Those who expressed negative views explained their positions in reference to the large-scale human losses; the spread of discord and chaos and lack of security; the collapse of states and state institutions; and instability more broadly. Only five percent of those with negative views of the Arab revolutions based their opinion on general opposition to revolutions. The results are an assessment of developments that followed the Arab Spring revolutions of 2011.
However 34 percent believe the Arab Spring has ended and the old regimes have returned to power. The main stated reasons for the obstruction of the Arab Spring: Security deterioration in some states economic hardship foreign intervention appearance of extremist organisations incitement by previous regimes and incitement by media outlets. Citizens in the Arab region have expressed fears to varying degrees with regard to the rise of Islamist and non-Islamic secular political movements. Where 57 percent of respondents expressed fears towards Islamist political movements compared with 36 percent who said they had no fears.
For secular political movements 61 percent of respondents said they had fears towards them compared with 31 percent who said they had no fears.
Samples were selected randomly from 12 countries representing 90 percent of the population of the Arab League member-countries including Algeria Morocco Tunisia Mauritania Egypt Sudan Palestine Lebanon Jordan Iraq Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
The Peninsula