Seventy-nine percent of Saudis are in favor of a normalization deal with Israel within the next five years, a stunning poll found, and more than 70 percent of respondents from four Arab nations going as far as to say Arab states will normalize ties without a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
Relations between Riyadh and Jerusalem have warmed in recent years, mostly due to Iran as a shared enemy.
The survey, by James Zogby at the U.S.-based Zogby Research Services, was conducted among 3,600 Arabs from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and the Palestinian territories from the period spanning June 24 and July 5 — a month before the normalization deals between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain were announced.
More than 1,000 Israelis were also polled in a separate section.
Some 59 percent of Jordanians and Saudis, along with 58 percent of Egyptians and 56 percent of respondents in the UAE said they support the normalization agreements between Israel and the Arab world, citing regional stability and economic prosperity.
A total of 61 percent of Palestinians opposed any attempts at normalization.
Around 80 percent of both Arab and Israeli respondents thought resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was important, but did not see eye to eye on how to achieve peace.
The findings contradict a recent report released by the Strategic Affairs Ministry which found some 90 percent of Arabic-language social media posts regarding the normalization deals between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain is negative.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday urged Saudi Arabia to normalize ties with Israel, as Breitbart Jerusalem reported.
“We hope Saudi Arabia will consider normalizing its relationships as well. We want to thank them for the assistance they’ve had in the success of the Abraham Accords so far,” Pompeo said after talks with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.