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AAI in the News

Arabs Want Reform, But Cool to US Help

Reuters News Agency
Posted on Tuesday December 7, 2004

WASHINGTON – Arabs rate improving quality of life issues as more important than political reform in their countries and are mostly cool to U.S. involvement in their internal affairs, according to a new poll released on Monday.

Expanding employment, settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and improving healthcare topped the list of 10 most important reform issues, according to a Zogby International survey of 2,600 Arabs in Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The respondents also said educational opportunities, curbing extremism, civil rights, and democracy were important issues. At the bottom of the list were reform, promoting political debate and advancing women’s rights.

“What these findings demonstrate is that Arab public opinion wants change, but that their most important issues of concern are structural changes that improve daily life and expand opportunities for personal advancement,” James Zogby, president of the American Arab Institute, wrote in a column on the survey.

When asked to evaluate the effectiveness of U.S. assistance in each of the 10 issues, a large percentage in all five countries agreed that the most significant role the United States could play was in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

On the issue of expanding employment, 73 percent of respondents in Lebanon said U.S. assistance would be helpful, while only 2 percent of respondents in Saudi Arabia held that view.

On the expansion of democracy, 46 percent in Lebanon indicated that U.S. help would be positive; 17 percent in Jordan; 10 percent in Morocco; 7 percent in the United Arab Emirates and 1 percent in Saudi Arabia.

Overall, Lebanon had the highest percentage of people who said the United States would be helpful in promoting all of the reforms listed. Saudi Arabia had the lowest percentage with single digits in each area, except the Israel-Palestine issue.

The poll was commissioned by the Washington-based Arab American Institute and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.