Ditch peace with Israel, say majority of Egyptians

I have a drawer specifically labeled "The I Told You So File" and it is just for my own fun.  It is getting quite full, and with this latest Pew poll I fear I may have to open a second file.

If this democracy and secular governing  across the Arab world would just take hold I wouldn't have to add to the pile in my office.


From CNSNews May 14 by Patrick Goodenough

Egyptians Want to Ditch Peace Treaty With Israel, Poll Shows

(CNSNews.com) – As Egyptians prepare to vote for their first post-Mubarak president next week, the antipathy towards Israel espoused by the frontrunners aligns with the findings of a new survey, in which 61 percent of Egyptian respondents favor abandoning the Egypt-Israel peace treaty, up from 54 percent a year ago.

The poll, by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, also finds a small decline among Egyptians in favorable views of the United States – now just 19 percent – while 61 percent of respondents said the billions of dollars the U.S. gives their country in military and economic aid has a “mostly negative” impact.

Asked their views on Egyptian-U.S. ties, 38 percent indicated the relationship should be more distant, 35 percent said it should remain as it is now, and 20 percent said it should be closer.

Among other findings:

--On the role of religion in government, 61 percent chose Saudi Arabia as the preferred model. (Turkey came in at 17 percent).

--Asked whether Egypt’s laws should strictly adhere to the Qur’an, 60 percent said yes while 32 percent said it should follow the values and principles of Islam and only six percent said laws should not be influenced by the teachings of the Qur’an.

-- Seventy percent of respondents viewed the Muslim Brotherhood favorably, down from 75 percent in 2011. The Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, also received the highest support rating among political parties, 56 percent.

--Priority issues in the election are the economy and a fair judiciary (81 percent each), with others including free speech (60 percent), equal rights for women (41 percent) and religious freedom (38 percent.)

The foreign policy issue with arguably the biggest implication for regional stability related to the peace treaty with neighboring Israel. The agreement, hammered out at Camp David in 1978 and signed at the White House the following year, remains the centerpiece of decades of U.S. mediation between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

The survey found that 61 percent of Egyptians want to abandon it, while only 32 percent think it should be maintained.

Support for annulling it has grown in particular among younger Egyptians (up by 14 points since 2011) as well as among those with higher education levels (up 18 percent since last year.)

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