This is a guest post by Jonathan Guyer, a program associate at the New America Foundation/Middle East Task Force.
Today at the New America Foundation, Zogby International President and CEO John Zogby will be unveiling an extensive survey of American perceptions with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The numbers suggest a widening partisan split between Democrats and Republicans on settlements, how the U.S. should lead negotiations, and attitudes toward Netanyahu and Israelis.
Yet there is a strong bitpartisan consensus that, “continuation of the conflict has a negative impact on U.S. interests in the Middle East.”
Whether or not the squabbles along the way could have been foreseen, the Zogby survey and two other polls of American opinion suggest that the American public is likely to be supportive of President Obama’s Middle East peace push.
The organization Avaaz’s poll of 1000 Americans exhibited support for getting tough with either party during peace negotiations if necessary. Meanwhile, J Street’s poll of American Jews shows that 73 percent support the U.S.’s active role in helping the parties resolve the conflict even when that translates into stating publicly its disagreements with Israelis and Arabs.
The presentation of the new poll’s findings will be followed by a conversation with Arab American Institute President Dr. James Zogby, Media Matters Senior Fellow M.J. Rosenberg, and the New America Foundation/Middle East Task Force Co-Director Amjad Atallah. TWN Publisher Steve Clemons will moderate the discussion.
— Jonathan Guyer
77 comments on “LIVE STREAM at 1:30pm EST: Changing American Attitudes Toward the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”