Attitudes Toward the Middle East Peace Process: Surveys of Public Opinion

Despite efforts by the Obama administration to move Israeli-Palestinian negotiations forward, the peace process appears to remain at an impasse. How do Arab and Jewish Israelis view the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the peace efforts, and the administration’s role? How do Americans view the Middle East peace issue as a U.S. foreign policy priority, and what kind of role would they like to see Washington play?

On December 9, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings hosted Nonresident Senior Fellow Shibley Telhami for the release of three new public opinion surveys assessing attitudes toward the current state of the Middle East peace process. Telhami, the polls’ principal investigator and the Anwar Sadat professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, presented his research and key findings followed by a discussion with Yoram Peri, Abraham S. and Jack Kay professor and director of the Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies at the University of Maryland, and Steve Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes.

Martin Indyk, vice president and director of Foreign Policy at Brookings, provided introductory remarks and moderated the discussion.