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TRANSCRIPT
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Arabs: What They Believe and What They Value Most
Introduction
The idea for this study came during a conversation with a prominent Arab thinker. We were
discussing the profound gap in understanding between the U.S. and the Arab world that had become so
painfully apparent following Sept. 11, 2001. We noted how, in an effort to bridge this gap, the U.S. had
launched a public diplomacy campaign to help the Arab world better understand the American reality and
the American people.
My friend observed that “We, too, should engage the U.S. with our own campaign, so that
Americans could better understand the Arabs.” Then he paused and noted, “But there is a problem…do
we really know who we are? Can we even give an answer to that question? And if we attempted such a
campaign, whose answers would we use to describe our reality?”
These questions are, in fact, difficult and sensitive ones to ask and answer. For some, the answers
are matters of strict faith or political ideology. For them, there can be no doubt, no lack of certainty to
the answers given.
In reality, however, no society gives one uniform answer to fundamental questions of beliefs and
values and identity. For each person in a society there may be different answers, different values, and
different priorities. We do not all see life, or define ourselves, in the same way. We are all shaped by a
unique combination of forces and circumstances. For example, the particular historical factors that have
impacted our countries, our social status, our educational or income levels, our age, gender or marital
status – all of these factors combined affect our self-definition, and our values and beliefs.
And even with this, there will be no common answer given by all Arab men, or even all Saudi or
Lebanese men, or even all Saudi or Lebanese college-educated men, etc. How, you might ask, can we
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ever attempt to find an answer to these questions: who are we? what do we value? Quite simply, I would
respond, we ask people and we take their answers seriously. We log their answers, we organize them and
we analyze the responses we receive. There will be many answers. And yet recognizing this does not
mean that we cannot still find answers that provide us with a view of the Arab identity or of Arab values
and beliefs and attitudes.
In the science of public opinion polling, we learn that if we want to know what people think, we
ask them and we trust what they tell us. We know that if we sample the views of a representative number
of people in a given city or country, if our sample has been randomly chosen (and is reflective of the
characteristics of the society we are studying), and if our methods are consistent, that we can, with a great
degree of certainty uncover and present the views and opinions of the city or country in question.
It is the business of polling to measure attitudes and values, and to provide answers to the
questions “What do we value?” and “How do we define ourselves?” Because polling respects the views
of all who are called upon to answer these questions, we never provide answers in absolutes – but rather
in percentages.
So, for example, when we have asked, in America, the question, “Do Americans support the death
penalty?” We might say, “Yes, they do, because 48% of all Americans say they support it.” We might
also say, “Some Americans do not, because 29% oppose the death penalty because they believe it
unfairly discriminates against minorities.”
The point is that polling reflects the opinion of all elements in a society. We not only ask the big
value and opinion questions, but also compile basic demographic data (age, gender, education level, etc.).
This provides us with an opportunity to compare the responses given to particular questions by different
sub-groups within a society. Thus, we learn not only how Lebanese may have different values or
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attitudes from Jordanians; we can also see how the views of older Lebanese compare with these of
younger Lebanese etc.
The results, when tabulated and presented, create a picture – in fact, a rather complex portrait of a
society. As we look at pages of responses given to the many questions asked, with responses presented
as percentages and organized by country and demographic category – sometimes a pattern emerges and
trends become clear.
We can, for example, answer questions such as: “What values matter most to us?” or “What are
the most important political issues to us?” And we can also see how education affects our choices of
values, or how age may impact our political priorities.
Polling opens a window. It welcomes opinions and, when it makes its presentation of those
opinions, it invites debate. A poll, oftentimes, raises more questions than it can answer – thus requiring
deeper questioning and analysis. This study you are about to read, for example, asks, “What political
issues are most important?” We then present the results showing the similarities and differences in the
political priorities for Arabs in eight different countries. We further examine what different political
priorities exist for old and young, men and women, secondary educated and college educated for Arabs in
the same countries. This much of an answer we can give. What this poll did not ask, and therefore,
cannot answer is why different groups and Arabs from different countries have different priorities. It will
require, therefore, yet another study to learn why our respondents made the choices that they made.
In short, in the study before you, we questioned 3200 Arab adults from eight countries (Egypt,
Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia). We asked them
92 questions that covered, in general, the following topics: their values, their political concerns, their
mood and outlook, their self-definition and how they viewed the world. We also obtained from each
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respondent sufficient demographic information to allow us to compare their responses by country, age,
gender, educational level and access to the internet.
Because our study obtained specific demographic data from our respondents, we are also able to
cross tabulate our results and analyze them by age, gender, education level, and access to the internet. By
laying out our data in this manner, we can, in effect, take an even closer look at the attitudes and concerns
that shape contemporary Arab society.
The effect is not unlike looking at a carpet through a magnifying glass. When viewed by the
naked eye, the carpet reveals its pattern. By enlarging the image, however, what becomes clear are the
individual knots and the inner workings of the weave that produces the overall pattern. Therefore, many
of the chapters that comprise this study include a section entitled “Taking a Closer look: Age, Gender,
Education and Internet.”
Our results and observations are presented below. Some of these you may agree with, some you
may question. This, we hope, is but the first such study of Arab values and beliefs. As such it provides
us with a benchmark – which we will be able to use as a point of comparison with future studies.
In any case, we now have before us some answers to questions that have not been asked before.
A window has been opened, we invite you to enjoy the view.
***
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I. What We Learned
During the past year there has been an unprecedented interest in the Arab world. Many in the
West, shaken by the traumatic events of September 11, 2001, began to look more closely at the Middle
East, a region, about which they had only limited knowledge. Books and articles were written, television
documentaries were aired, even Congressional hearings were convened.
All too often, however, Arabs were absent from these discussions and presentations. As a result,
instead of closing the gap, the bad or biased information produced by these efforts only served to deepen
misunderstanding.
Even when some Arabs have made an effort to engage in and inform this discussion they have all
too often missed the point. These Arab information campaigns focused largely on policy matters, when
what we have learned from our polling of U.S. opinion, is that Americans do not want to know where
Arabs stand on issues, they want to know who Arabs really arere – what they believe and how they think.
As one U.S. respondent said to us during a focus group discussion we had organized, “Are Arabs like
us?”
Of course this discussion in the West did not stand alone. In the Arab world, Arabs were asking
similar questions about Americans. Clearly the tragedy of September 11 had awakened both sides to an
awareness of the profound gap in understanding that divided both worlds. But Arabs were also engaged
in another discussion as well. In salons and majlises, in public forums and in private, Arabs were taking
a hard look at their own society and their needs.
One such effort at critical self-examination was the Arab Human Development Report 2002
(AHDR 2002) produced by the United Nations Development Program and the Arab Fund for Economic
and Social Development. The report was an in-depth look at contemporary Arab economic, social, and
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cultural realities. It was both thorough and incisive. While the report recognizes the significant advances
in human development that the Arab world has made in the past fifty years, it also points out the
extraordinary needs that continue to exist and that have not been adequately addressed.
What is important is that the report was written by Arabs, for Arabs and it has been acclaimed by
Arabs. The AHDR 2002 is seen by many not as a catalogue of problems, but as a useful roadmap to
future progress.
The AHDR 2002 was largely based on macro economic, social, and cultural measurements. This
study Arabs: What They Believe and What They Value Most is quite different. It is an examination of
Arab public opinion. It is based on a poll, a rather extensive set of interviews of 3,200 Arabs in eight
countries. As such, it represents an effort to develop a picture of Arab thinking today.
This study is also different than other recent polls that have been conducted in the region. Most
of these have been externally focused. They have been designed to answer questions about what Arabs
think about the United States, or critical political events in the world or the region.
This study does not look outward. Its focus is inward. It is an effort to learn what Arabs believe,
what their concerns are, what values they seek to teach their children, and what political issues matter
most to them. This study also examines how Arabs identify themselves and how they view their own
countries and other nations in the world.
What have we learned?
Because there is always a diversity of opinion, it is never easy to generalize the results of a poll.
There is no universally held Arab view, just as there is no universally held American view or British
view. But there are general observations that can be made about what can be described as commonly
held Arab views and attitudes. And these can be most instructive.
This is what we learned.
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When asked what matters most to them in their lives, Arabs largely identify a number of very
personal concerns. As noted in Chapter II, what we learned is that “Arabs, not unlike other people all
over the world, are focused principally on matters of personal security, fulfillment, and satisfaction…
what matters most are the things that effect them most directly: the quality and the security of their daily
work, their faith, and their family. Their ability to lead meaningful and productive lives, their ability to
provide for themselves and those whom they love, and their ability to protect and project the values they
hold most dear – these are the concerns that define life and matter most.”
Similarly, when we asked our respondents to choose from a list of a dozen values that they feel
are most important to teach their children, once again, as is noted in Chapter III, they “focus on personal
and family concerns. Far less emphasis is placed on externals.” The most important values they select
are: self-respect, good health and hygiene, personal responsibility, respect for elders, and working to
achieve a better life.
Like people everywhere, Arabs want their families to be secure and solid, healthy and prosperous.
All of this translates into politics. When we asked our respondents to rank in order of priority a
number of political issues, once again, as we observed in Chapter IV, “the overall priority seems to point
to matters that affect personal life – but with an intriguing twist.” Civil and personal rights are
consistently noted as the most important issue followed by health care. Also in the top group are “my
personal economic situation” and concern over moral standards. But ranked slightly higher than both of
these last two issues are the concerns with Palestine and the rights of the Palestinian people. As we noted
in Chapter IV “after more than three generations of conflicts, and the betrayal and denial of Palestinian
rights, this issue appears to have become a defining one of general Arab concern.” It is not seen as a
foreign policy issue, “rather…the situation of the Palestinians appears to have become a personal matter.”
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Given the concerns listed and the issues identified as most important, one might well ask, “how
do Arabs feel about their lives?” Are they satisfied with their current economic situation and are they
optimistic about their future prospects? When we asked these questions of our respondents we found, as
we report in Chapter V, that to a great degree Arabs are both satisfied and optimistic. There are, to be
sure, some differences that can be observed from country to country. But a strong plurality of Arabs in
most countries indicate that they are better off than they were four years ago and better off than their
parents had been. An equally strong plurality express the opinion that they and their children’s
generation will be better off in the future.
In this context, it is especially important to note that in most Arab countries it is older Arabs who
appear to be the most optimistic and satisfied with their economic situation. Only in Saudi Arabia was
this reversed, with younger Saudis being more optimistic and pleased with their current circumstances.
The Arab world is, by and large, a region in the midst of a great transition. Most Arab countries
have only recently emerged as independent states. During this last century, the region was convulsed and
shaped by the impact of the two world wars and a host of regional conflicts. Imperialism and colonialism
distorted the development and the very geo-political map of the entire area.
Some parts of the Arab world have witnessed dramatic economic modernization resulting not
only in pressures for social and political change, but in cultural transformation as well. In some areas,
bedouin societies have in one generation become urbanized. In other instances, military conflict and
military elites have combined to impact political and economic developments. In all areas educational
opportunities and commerce have opened up new possibilities and exposure to the world of ideas. All of
these factors have impacted Arab identity.
In any society there are competing sources of self-identification. This is true, for example, in the
United States. While the U.S. sees itself as a modern and homogenous society, there are at work
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competing pulls to identity that often impact politics and social harmony. Race, ethnicity, religion,
regional differences (e.g. south, north, rural etc.) all have a claim on loyalty in different settings and
situations. This is true in the Arab world, as well.
When we asked our Arab respondents how they identified themselves in two different situations –
conversing with a fellow Arab or conversing with an American – we learned (in Chapter VI) that “being
Arab,” their religion, and their country were the most preferred choices, in that order. “Being Arab”
ranks first in most of the countries and increases significantly as the first choice when our respondents are
relating to an American. Being identified by country is a priority choice only among the Lebanese.
Religion as the principle source of identification plays a significant role only in Morocco and among
Arabs in Israel. The forms of social identification that are prevalent in more traditional societies: family,
social background or region -- these plays very little role in most Arab countries.
Because the Arab world is engaged in commerce and impacted by the politics and policies of
other countries, we also made an effort to learn how Arabs view other countries in the world. What we
learned (in Chapter VII) is that Arabs, not surprisingly, view other countries in terms of the policies they
pursue vis-à-vis the Arab world.
Arabs, therefore, hold an extremely negative view of Israel and similarly hold quite unfavorable
views of the United States and the United Kingdom. But before one concludes that this might be the
result of a general anti-Western mindset, it is important to note that a majority of respondents in all eight
countries have a very positive view of France, and Arabs are largely favorably inclined toward Canada
and Germany. Arabs also have very positive attitudes towards Japan.
The clear pattern that emerges is that the attitudes that Arabs have toward other countries are not
surprisingly impacted by the policies these countries have pursued in the Arab world – most especially
toward the Palestine-Israel conflict. This observation has been borne our in earlier polling and an
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example of these findings is also found in Chapter VIII where it is noted that “although Arabs who were
polled…had strong favorable attitudes toward American “Science and Technology,” “Freedom and
Democracy,” “Education,” “Movies and Television,” and even largely favorable attitudes toward the
American people, they had extremely negative attitudes toward U.S. policy toward the Arab world, Iraq,
and most especially toward Palestine.”
This observation is further validated in our current study by responses given to an open-ended
question we put to all 3,200 of our interviewees. We asked them, “What can the U.S. do to improve its
relations with the Arab world?” What we learned and what we report in Chapter IX is that the single-
most important thing the U.S. can do is change its policy toward the Arab-Israeli conflict and, as
expressed by many of our respondents “be fair,” or “be less biased.”
In an effort to also provide our respondents with an opportunity to tell us how they feel about
their own countries, we asked them another open-ended question: “what is the most important thing you
would want the rest of the world to know about your country?”
What we learned and reported in Chapter X is that despite differences resulting from the unique
characteristics of each country, Arabs focused on the positive attributes of their culture and the history
and beauty of their countries. The differences, however, were interesting to note. The emphasis in Egypt
was on that country’s wondrous antiquities. Saudis, on the other hand, emphasize the rich traditions of
their people. In the UAE, respondents focus on that nation’s man-made modern wonders, while the
Arabs in Israel characteristically speak of the beauty of “their land.”
In short, this is what we learned. The details follow.
***
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II. What Matters Most in Life
A. Overview
When asked what matters most to them in their lives, most Arabs surveyed in our eight-country
study gave priority to personal concerns.
We had provided our respondents with nine specific choices: family; friends; marriage; the
quality of their work; job security; political issues in their country; political issues facing the Arab nation;
leisure time; and religion. They were asked to grade each of these in order of importance, from 1 to 5,
with 1 being “not important” and 5 meaning “extremely important.”
In almost all cases, the choices that are given the highest priority reflect concerns quite close
to home. The most frequently chosen basket of concerns was, in order: the quality of one’s work,
family, religion, and job security.
The lowest priority is given, in almost all cases, to matters external to personal and home
life: political issues in their country; political issues facing the Arab nation in general; and leisure time.
What this suggests is that Arabs, not unlike other people all over the world, are focused
principally on matters of personal security, fulfillment, and satisfaction. At the end of the day, for most
of our respondents, what matters most are the things that effect them most directly: the quality and
security of their daily work, their faith and their family. Their ability to lead a meaningful and
productive life, their ability to provide for themselves and those whom they love, and their ability to
protect and project the values and beliefs they hold most dear – these are the concerns that define life and
matter most.
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***
Table I and Table II, provided below, record the cumulative responses given, by country. In
Table I, the percentages given indicate the percentage of those respondents, in each individual country,
who gave a 4 or 5 to each of the listed concerns. The bold numbers in parentheses indicate the rank order
of each concern, in the country in question.
In order to develop an overall Arab picture of ranked concerns; we created a cumulative total of
the eight individual country rankings. Obviously, the higher priority given to an area of concern, the
lower its cumulative total in all eight countries. The results of this ranking are found in Table II. (Note:
Arab American totals were not included in the overall Arab-wide rankings, but are provided for
comparison purposes only.)
Table I. Importance of Concerns in Personal Life (% rating and ranking)
Importance (4+5)
Lebanon
Jordan Kuwait Saudi Arabia
UAE Morocc
o Egypt Israel
Arab America
ns
Family 89 (1) 81 (2) 95 (2) 95 (1) 89 (3) 72 (5) 82 (3) 98 (1) 98 (1)
Friends 73 (6) 70 (5) 71 (6) 76 (6) 78 (5) 66 (7) 70 (5) 86 (6) 91 (3)
Marriage 77 (3) 65 (7) 66 (8) 86 (5) 88 (4) 85 (4) 68 (6) 90 (5) 84 (4)
Quality of work
83 (2) 80 (3) 98 (1) 88 (3) 93 (1) 89 (2) 90 (2) 94 (2) 92 (2)
Job security
77 (3) 77 (4) 95 (2) 88 (3) 90 (2) 87 (3) 74 (4) 94 (2) 80 (5)
Political issues in country
50 (7) 66 (6) 73 (5) 73 (7) 55 (7) 69 (6) 63 (7) 78 (8) 71 (8)
Political issues facing Arabs
41 (8) 61 (8) 71 (6) 72 (8) 50 (8) 63 (8) 61 (8) 81 (7) 65 (9)
Leisure time
39 (9) 47 (9) 50 (9) 69 (9) 39 (9) 56 (9) 48 (9) 66 (9) 72 (6)
Religion 75 (5) 82 (1) 83 (4) 95 (1) 69 (6) 95 (1) 93 (1) 93 (4) 72 (6)
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Table II. Rank Order of Concerns in Eight Countries Concern Rank Cumulative Total Average Rank
Quality of Work 1 16 2
Family 2 18 2.5
Religion 3 23 3
Job Security 4 23 3
Marriage 5 42 5.5
Friends 6 46 6
Political Issues in Country
7 53 7
Political Issues Facing Arabs
8 61 8
Leisure Time 9 73 9
B. Differences by Country
While the “basket” of concerns given the highest and lowest priority ratings were mostly the
same, in each of the eight countries surveyed, it is interesting to note the variances – that is, the countries
where respondents indicated different priorities in their lives.
In Lebanon, for example, most respondents agreed with the overall basket of priority concerns
that result from our eight-country study. The major differences that did emerge, however, were that the
Lebanese appeared to give greater priority to marriage and a significantly lower ranking to the role of
religion.
Kuwaitis also ranked religion somewhat lower in importance than other Arab respondents. They
also ranked “political issues within their own country” higher than did respondents in any of the other
countries in our study.
In the United Arab Emirates, the most notable difference was that those surveyed gave “religion”
a lower ranking as a priority concern than did respondents in any of the other seven countries.
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In Morocco, religion received the highest ranking, while concerns with family were a lower
priority than in any of the other countries studied. However, among Moroccans, marriage was in the top
basket of concerns.
Saudi Arabians, Egyptians and Arabs in Israel, while differing somewhat in the internal rankings
given to the nine concerns in question, all chose to create the same baskets of highest and lowest priority
concerns. In each case they agreed both on the top four concerns and on the items receiving the lowest
rankings.
By the way of comparison, Arab Americans gave significantly different priority rankings in
listing many of their top concerns. Most notably, Arab Americans gave job security a much lower rating
than did most other Arab respondents. They also ranked as equal their concern with leisure time and
religion.
***
C. Taking a Closer Look:
The Impact of Age, Gender, Education and Internet Access In this section we will examine in greater detail the material covered in this chapter. We will
examine each topic more closely looking at how the responses in each area differ when we compare them
not only by country, but by age (those between the ages of 18 and 29, with those over 30), gender (male
and female), education (those with a secondary education, with those who have graduated from college),
and internet access (those who have access, and those who do not).
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1. By Age
Table III shows how the ratings and rankings given to each of these areas of concern differed
when we compared them by the age of our respondents.
Table III. Importance of Concerns in Personal Life by Age (% rating and ranking) Importance (4+5) Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+
Family 87 (1) 90 (1) 79 (2) 77 (2) 89 (3) 99 (1) 88 (1) 90 (4)
Friends 78 (4) 72 (6) 72 (5) 58 (7) 60 (7) 79 (5) 80 (5) 76 (5)
Marriage 72 (6) 78 (3) 60 (6) 69 (5) 46 (9) 79 (5) 83 (4) 92 (2)
The quality of work 86 (2) 82 (2) 80 (1) 74 (4) 98 (1) 97 (2) 88 (1) 96 (1)
Job security 83 (3) 75 (4) 75 (4) 76 (3) 93 (2) 96 (3) 88 (1) 91 (3)
Political issues in country 50 (7) 50 (7) 57 (7) 72 (8) 70 (5) 76 (7) 58 (7) 53 (7)
Political issues facing Arabs 39 (9) 41 (8) 54 (8) 59 (6) 70 (5) 71 (8) 54 (8) 48 (8)
Leisure time 40 (8) 39 (9) 48 (9) 42 (9) 51 (8) 49 (9) 43 (9) 36 (9)
Religion 74 (5) 75 (4) 77 (3) 83 (1) 73 (4) 90 (4) 72 (6) 66 (6)
Table III. Importance of Concerns in Personal Life by Age (cont.)
Importance (4+5) Morocco Saudi Arabia Egypt Israel
18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+
Family 70 (5) 74 (5) 99 (1) 95 (1) 80 (3) 83 (3) 99 (1) 99 (1)
Friends 62 (7) 69 (8) 72 (8) 78 (6) 75 (4) 64 (6) 90 (5) 83 (6)
Marriage 90 (3) 82 (4) 86 (5) 86 (4) 63 (8) 74 (5) 89 (6) 90 (5)
The quality of work 93 (2) 86 (2) 91 (3) 86 (4) 89 (2) 91 (2) 98 (2) 91 (4)
Job security 89 (4) 86 (2) 89 (4) 87 (3) 70 (5) 77 (4) 98 (2) 92 (2)
Political issues in country 64 (6) 73 (6) 76 (6) 71 (7) 68 (6) 56 (7) 83 (7) 75 (8)
Political issues facing Arabs 52 (8) 72 (7) 73 (7) 71 (7) 65 (7) 55 (8) 82 (8) 80 (7)
Leisure time 49 (9) 62 (9) 69 (9) 70 (9) 47 (9) 49 (9) 66 (9) 66 (9)
Religion 94 (1) 96 (1) 96 (2) 95 (1) 94 (1) 93 (1) 95 (4) 92 (2)
Overview: When viewed in the aggregate, age appears to have only a slight affect on the
personal concerns of our respondents. The most significant areas impacted by age are attitudes toward
the quality of work and marriage. In one-half of the countries covered in our study, younger Arabs
displayed greater concern for the quality of their work. In 6 of 8 countries, older Arabs gave
significantly higher scores to marriage.
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Similarly younger and older Arabs were divided over their preferences for family and friends.
Older Arabs show greater concern for family; their younger compatriots give slightly greater
weight to friends.
By Country: In the case of Lebanon, in most instances, there is very little gap between the
responses of the different age groups. In six of the nine concerns the ratings and the rankings given are
virtually the same. The only exceptions are found in the area of job security (where younger Lebanese
show somewhat greater concern), and in the different ratings and rankings given to the concerns for
marriage and friends. Younger Lebanese appear more concerned with having friends, while their older
compatriots show somewhat more concern for marriage.
In Jordan, the major difference in ranking appears with regard to the quality of work and the
importance of religion. Younger Jordanians appear to be more concerned with work related issues, with
the quality of work ranked as their number one concern. Older Jordanians give higher ratings to political
issues than do their younger compatriots. Young and old Jordanians, like the Lebanese, give different
priority to the matters of friends and marriage.
Kuwaitis young and old give very different ratings in five of the nine areas of concern we are
evaluating. Older Kuwaitis give significantly higher ratings to the importance of family, marriage,
religion, and friends. While younger Kuwaitis give higher ranking to their concerns with the quality of
work and job security. Younger Kuwaitis also give higher ranking, but slightly lower percentage ratings,
to political issues, than do their older compatriots.
In the case of the UAE, while young and old Arabs in the Emirates vary in rankings on the top
four issues, there is agreement on the basket of priority concerns. The rankings of the remaining five
issues are identical, indicating that there is little evidence of an age gap with regard to concerns in this
country.
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Moroccans, however, reverse the order of the priority given to friends and marriage by most other
Arabs. Younger Moroccans offer a higher ranking to marriage, while older Moroccans give a higher
ranking to the concern for friends. Older Moroccans also display a greater concern for political issues
than do their younger compatriots.
As in the case of UAE, old and young Saudis, differ in the rank order on their top four priority
concerns, but they agree on what those top concerns are. The only areas where any differences appear
amongst Saudis are with regard to friends, the quality of work and concern over political issues in Saudi
Arabia. Older Saudis ranked their concern with friends slightly higher than did younger Saudis. Younger
Saudis, on the other hand, displayed greater concern with the quality of their work and political issues.
Older and younger Egyptians agreed with the ratings and rankings they gave to the top three
concerns. As in the case of a number of other non-Gulf Arab countries, younger Egyptians were more
likely to give a higher ranking to having friends, while older Egyptians rank marriage higher. Age also
appeared to be a factor in differing attitudes toward quality of work and political issues, with older
Egyptians displaying greater concern with the former and younger Egyptians focused more on the latter.
Among Arabs in Israel there was substantial agreement on their top four areas of concern.
Younger Israeli Arabs showed somewhat greater concern for local political issues, but this was not a high
priority for them.
***
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2. By Gender
Table IV shows how the ratings and rankings given to each of these areas of concern differ when
we compare them by the gender of our respondents.
Table IV. Importance of Concerns in Personal Life by Gender (% rating and ranking) Importance (4+5) Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Family 87 (1) 91 (1) 81 (2) 81 (3) 96 (2) 93 (3) 88 (4) 92 (2)
Friends 71 (6) 76 (4) 64 (7) 78 (4) 71 (7) 71 (5) 78 (5) 77 (5)
Marriage 78 (4) 76 (4) 65 (6) 64 (6) 68 (8) 62 (8) 90 (3) 84 (4)
The quality of work 86 (2) 80 (2) 77 (4) 83 (1) 97 (1) 99 (1) 92 (1) 93 (1)
Job security 83 (3) 71 (6) 78 (3) 76 (5) 94 (3) 97 (2) 92 (1) 86 (3)
Political issues in country 58 (7) 42 (7) 73 (5) 58 (8) 78 (5) 66 (7) 56 (7) 53 (7)
Political issues facing Arabs
43 (8) 38 (8) 62 (8) 60 (7) 73 (6) 67 (6) 50 (8) 51 (8)
Leisure time 42 (9) 36 (9) 43 (9) 52 (9) 58 (9) 36 (9) 35 (9) 46 (9)
Religion 72 (5) 78 (3) 82 (1) 82 (2) 88 (4) 75 (4) 64 (6) 77 (5)
Table IV. Importance of Concerns in Personal Life by Gender (cont.)
Importance (4+5) Morocco Saudi Arabia Egypt Israel
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Family 72 (5) 72 (5) 95 (1) 98 (1) 81 (3) 83 (3) 99 (1) 99 (1)
Friends 66 (7) 65 (7) 88 (3) 65 (8) 71 (5) 69 (5) 88 (6) 83 (7)
Marriage 86 (4) 85 (4) 88 (3) 84 (5) 72 (4) 64 (6) 92 (5) 87 (5)
The quality of work 88 (2) 90 (2) 86 (5) 90 (3) 91 (2) 89 (2) 94 (2) 94 (3)
Job security 88 (2) 86 (3) 86 (5) 89 (4) 71 (5) 75 (4) 94 (2) 95 (2)
Political issues in country 68 (6) 70 (6) 71 (8) 75 (6) 64 (7) 63 (7) 78 (7) 77 (8)
Political issues facing Arabs 65 (8) 62 (8) 69 (9) 74 (7) 60 (8) 62 (8) 77 (8) 86 (6)
Leisure time 54 (9) 58 (9) 77 (7) 62 (9) 52 (9) 44 (9) 70 (9) 62 (9)
Religion 96 (1) 94 (1) 93 (2) 98 (1) 92 (1) 94 (1) 93 (4) 94 (3)
Overview: Overall, gender does not appear to play a significant role in determining the ratings
and rankings of the concerns of our respondents. Even when differences do exist, as in the case of
attitudes toward marriage, it is slight. While in all 8 countries men show greater preference for
19
marriage than do women, the differences are only a matter of a few percentage points, with no
overall difference in ranking.
There are very slight differences between men and women with regard to religion, family, quality
of work and political issues. Arab women display somewhat more concern for religion, family and the
quality of work. Men give slightly greater weight to political issues.
By Country: The only significant gender gap for the Lebanese appears to be in the area of job
security with Lebanese men giving this concern a much higher rating and ranking than Lebanese women.
Men are also more concerned with the quality of their work. Women in Lebanon, on the other hand, give
somewhat higher ratings to family, friends, and religion.
Lebanese men are also more focused on political concerns, but give both local and Arab-wide
political issues an over-all low ranking.
In Jordan it is women who are more concerned with the quality of their work. They also offer
significantly higher rating and ranking to their concern for friends. Men are significantly more
concerned with local political issues and job security. Men also rank both religion and family concerns
higher than woman.
In Kuwait the only significant gender gap in attitudes appear in the area of politics. But Kuwaiti
women also display somewhat greater concern with work-related issues, giving both the quality of
work and job security the highest rating of any sub-group in our eight-country study.
Arab women in the UAE, likewise give concern over the quality of work their highest rating. But
Arab men in the UAE have a slightly higher concern with job security. And while Arab men in the
UAE give a higher priority ranking to marriage, their women compatriots show greater concern to
family, religion and leisure time. It is important to note that there appears to be no significant gender
gap with regard to any of the areas of concern we examined in the UAE.
20
Saudi men display a significantly higher degree of concern towards friends and leisure time.
Saudi women, on the other hand, appear to be more concerned with religion – ranking it first in their
priority basket of concerns.
Only in the areas of marriage and leisure time does any gender gap appear for Egyptian
respondents: Egyptian men rate both higher than do their female compatriots.
There is no significant gender gap among Arabs in Israel. The only observable differences are
that women show a greater degree of concern for Arab world politics, while men give slightly higher
ratings to friends, marriage, and leisure time.
***
21
3. By Education
Table V shows how the ratings and rankings on each of these areas of concern differ when we
compare them by the educational levels of our respondents.
Table V. Importance of Concerns in Personal Life by Education (% rating and ranking) Importance (4+5) Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Family 88 (1) 90 (1) 76 (3) 85 (1) 94 (3) 95 (2) 93 (2) 89 (3)
Friends 67 (6) 78 (4) 71 (5) 70 (5) 80 (5) 68 (7) 71 (8) 78 (5)
Marriage 85 (2) 71 (5) 64 (7) 65 (6) 63 (8) 67 (8) 93 (2) 88 (4)
The quality of work 79 (4) 85 (2) 71 (5) 85 (1) 96 (2) 98 (1) 100 (1) 92 (1)
Job security 68 (5) 83 (3) 82 (2) 73 (4) 100 (1) 93 (3) 93 (2) 90 (2)
Political issues in country 45 (7) 54 (7) 73 (4) 61 (8) 71 (6) 75 (5) 79 (7) 54 (7)
Political issues facing Arabs 33 (9) 45 (8) 59 (8) 62 (7) 68 (7) 72 (6) 86 (6) 49 (8)
Leisure time 35 (8) 42 (9) 47 (9) 47 (9) 38 (9) 53 (9) 50 (9) 38 (9)
Religion 80 (3) 71 (5) 86 (1) 79 (3) 88 (4) 82 (4) 93 (2) 67 (6)
Table V. Importance of Concerns in Personal Life by Education (cont.)
Importance (4+5) Morocco Saudi Arabia Egypt Israel
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Family 82 (2) 66 (5) 98 (1) 95 (1) 81 (3) 81 (3) 99 (1) 100 (1)
Friends 74 (6) 61 (8) 64 (8) 83 (6) 69 (5) 71 (5) 86 (6) 89 (5)
Marriage 82 (2) 88 (4) 84 (4) 87 (5) 66 (6) 71 (5) 89 (5) 96 (3)
The quality of work 82 (2) 94 (2) 84 (4) 91 (3) 88 (2) 91 (2) 94 (3) 100 (1)
Job security 81 (5) 91 (3) 86 (3) 89 (4) 70 (4) 74 (4) 95 (2) 93 (4)
Political issues in country 73 (7) 66 (5) 73 (6) 73 (8) 60 (7) 69 (7) 78 (8) 78 (8)
Political issues facing Arabs 60 (8) 65 (7) 71 (7) 73 (8) 60 (7) 65 (8) 81 (7) 89 (5)
Leisure time 54 (9) 57 (9) 62 (9) 74 (7) 44 (9) 49 (9) 67 (9) 63 (9)
Religion 92 (1) 97 (1) 98 (1) 94 (2) 94 (1) 92 (1) 94 (3) 89 (5)
Overview: The education level achieved has an impact on the ratings and rankings of only a few
of the concerns measured in our study. College educated Arabs show greater concern for the quality
of their work than do their compatriots without a college degree. They also appear to be more
22
concerned with marriage and friends. Arabs with a secondary education or less appear to be more
concerned with religion than are college educated Arabs.
By Country: Among the Lebanese, the higher the educational level achieved, the greater the
intensity of concern about every issue except religion and marriage. The most significant differences
occur with respect to job security, political issues, friends, and leisure time.
Conversely in Jordan increased education appears to lower the intensity of concern with regard to
some of the issues examined in this study. College educated Jordanians give higher ratings to the quality
of their work and their concerns for family. While those who have secondary education or less are more
focused on religion, job security and local political issues.
In Kuwait, more education only appears to create greater concern for leisure time – although this
concern received the lowest rating in both groups. Those with less education showed greater concern
with friends, job security and religion.
In the UAE, those with less education show much greater intensity of concern with both religion
and political issues. Those without college education also give higher ratings to concerns with job
security and leisure time.
In Morocco, college educated citizens appear to have greater concern with both the quality of
their work and their job security. They are also slightly more concerned with religion and marriage. On
the other hand, Moroccans without college education are more focused on family and friends. While
higher educated Moroccans pay somewhat more attention to Arab-wide political issues, their less
educated compatriots appear to be more concerned with local political issues.
More educated Saudis display far greater concern with friends and leisure time. They are also
more concerned with the quality of their work.
23
Educational levels achieved appear to play little role in shaping Egyptian concerns. The only
notable difference is that those with college degrees show slightly more concern with political issues.
Among the Arabs in Israel the higher the education level achieved, the greater the concern with
the quality of work, marriage and political issues in the Arab world. Those without college degrees show
some greater concern with religion.
***
24
4. By Internet Access
Table VI shows how the ratings and rankings given to each of these areas of concern
differ when we compare them by the Internet access of our respondents.
Table VI. Importance of Concerns in Personal Life by Internet Access (% rating and
ranking) Importance of… Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
Internet access Internet access Internet access Internet access
Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No
Family 87 (2) 91 (1) 82 (1) 80 (2) 92 98 89 89
Friends 81 (4) 70 (6) 70 (5) 70 (6) 72 (6) 73 (7) 78 (5) 77 (5)
Marriage 72 (5) 79 (4) 66 (6) 61 (8) 62 (8) 73 (7) 88 (4) 89 (3)
The quality of work 89 (1) 80 (2) 79 (3) 79 (3) 99 (1) 95 (2) 92 (1) 94 (1)
Job security 85 (3) 73 (5) 79 (3) 76 (4) 96 (2) 95 (2) 90 (2) 91 (2)
Political issues in country 60 (7) 45 (7) 62 (7) 74 (5) 74 (5) 77 (6) 54 (7) 59 (8)
Political issues facing Arabs
50 (8) 36 (9) 59 (8) 65 (7) 68 (7) 78 (5) 48 (8) 62 (7)
Leisure time 38 (9) 40 (8) 47 (9) 47 (9) 51 (9) 50 (9) 39 (9) 40 (9)
Religion 66 (6) 80 (2) 80 (2) 85 (1) 81 (4) 85 (4) 68 (6) 74 (6)
Table VI. Importance of Concerns in Personal Life by Internet Access (cont.)
Importance of… Morocco Saudi Arabia Egypt Israel
Internet access Internet access Internet access Internet access
Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No
Family 68 (7) 77 (5) 98 (1) 93 (2) 80 (3) 83 (3) 98 (2) 99 (1)
Friends 64 (8) 67 (6) 87 (6) 56 (8) 76 (4) 68 (5) 88 (5) 84 (6)
Marriage 88 (4) 82 (2) 89 (5) 81 (3) 68 (6) 68 (5) 86 (6) 91 (5)
The quality of work 97 (1) 82 (2) 92 (3) 81 (3) 90 (1) 90 (2) 99 (1) 92 (4)
Job security 92 (3) 82 (2) 91 (4) 81 (3) 68 (6) 75 (4) 97 (3) 93 (3)
Political issues in country 73 (5) 64 (7) 80 (8) 61 (6) 69 (5) 62 (7) 82 (8) 76 (8)
Political issues facing Arabs
69 (6) 57 (9) 80 (8) 58 (7) 64 (8) 60 (8) 85 (7) 79 (7)
Leisure time 55 (9) 58 (8) 81 (7) 49 (9) 49 (9) 47 (9) 65 (9) 67 (9)
Religion 97 (1) 93 (1) 95 (2) 96 (1) 90 (1) 94 (1) 89 (4) 95 (2)
Overview: In the aggregate, internet access appears to make little difference in the personal
concerns of Arabs. Even where rankings and ratings do differ, the differences are slight. Overall, it
25
appears that Arabs who have access to the Internet are somewhat more concerned with job security,
the quality of their work and political issues facing their countries.
On the other hand, Arabs without Internet access give higher rankings and ratings to their concern
for religion.
By Country: Internet access appears to make a significant difference in the attitudes of the
Lebanese respondents. Those with such access display greater concern with for the quality of their work,
job security, friends and political issues. Those without internet access are significantly more concerned
with religion and marriage.
Conversely in Jordan access to the internet appears to have very little impact on attitudes.
However, there are slight differences in three areas: political issues (both local and Arab-wide) and
religion.
In Kuwait concerns with family, marriage and political issues are lower among those with internet
access. In all other areas, attitudes are virtually identical.
The same is true in the UAE, where the only observable difference resulting from Internet access
is a slightly lower concern for politics and religion.
In Morocco, those with access to the internet display a significantly higher degree of concern with
job related issues and with political matters both local and Arab-wide. Those with no internet access
show greater concern with family and give a higher ranking (though lower rating) to marriage.
Interestingly in Saudi Arabia, those with internet access give a higher rating, though not
necessarily a higher ranking to almost all of the concerns covered in this study. The only exception is in
the area of religion where the intensity of concern is nearly the same.
There are few differences between the attitudes of those Egyptians with and without internet
access. The only measurable differences occur with regard to the values associated with friends, job
26
security and local political issues. Those with internet access show greater concern with friends and local
politics while those without give higher rating to job security.
There is very little difference between the attitudes of those with internet access and those without
such access among the Arabs in Israel. Those with access show slightly greater concern for job-related
issues and political issues, while those without access give slightly higher ratings to religion and
marriage.
***
27
III. Values Arabs Teach Their Children
A. Overview
When asked to rank in order of importance the values they felt should be taught to children, our
Arab respondents in the eight countries, once again, focused on personal concerns.
In each case, those surveyed were asked to rank, in importance, twelve different values. They
were: serious work habits; responsibility; religious faith; obedience; respect for elders; respect for
authority; achieve a better life; self-reliance; creativity/using your imagination; self-respect; to learn of
other’s views; and good health and hygiene.
They were asked to grade each of these values in order of importance, from 1 to 5, with 1 being
“not important” and 5 meaning “extremely important.”
Overall, self-respect, good health and hygiene, and responsibility were the values ranked as most
important to teach to children. Arab respondents also gave high priority to “respect for elders” and
working to “achieve a better life.” It appears that these five created the most commonly chosen
collection of values to be taught to children among the respondents surveyed in our eight-country study.
While there was some variation in the ranking and items included in the list of highest rated values, most
respondents included among their lowest ranked values to be taught to children: creativity/using your
imagination; tolerance for the views of others'; and respect for authority.
Generally speaking, it appears from the characteristics of the values selected as the highest
priorities to teach children, that our respondents are again focused on personal and family concerns.
28
Far less emphasis is placed on the importance of “externals,” with “tolerance for others’ views” and
“respect for authority” receiving consistently low scores. Somewhat in the same vein, “thinking outside
the box,” or teaching children the importance of “creativity and use of imagination” is not given great
value.
Table VII and Table VIII provided below, record the cumulative responses given, by country. In
Table III the percentages given indicates the percentage of those respondents, in each individual country,
who gave a 4 or 5 to each of the list values. The bold numbers, in parentheses, indicate the rank order of
each value, in the country in question.
In order to develop an overall Arab picture of prioritized values, we created a cumulative total of
the eight country rankings. Obviously, the higher the priority given to a particular value, the lower its
cumulative total. The results of this ranking are found in Table IV. (Note: Once again, Arab American
totals were not included in the overall Arab-wide rankings, but are provided for comparison purposes
only).
Table VII. Importance of Values to be Taught to Children (% rating and ranking)
Importance (4+5) Lebano
n Jordan Kuwait
Saudi Arabia
UAE Morocc
o Egypt Israel
Arab Americ
ans
Serious work habits 91 (6) 82 (8) 94 (7) 85 (10) 92 (3) 92 (1) 88 (8) 93 (8) 94 (7)
Responsibility 94 (3) 84 (6) 96 (4) 89 (5) 95 (1) 90 (2) 93 (2) 98 (4) 99 (1)
Religious faith 82 (11) 83 (7) 85 (9) 96 (1) 70 (9) 90 (2) 95 (1) 85 (10) 75 (12)
Obedience 86 (7) 69 (10) 91 (8) 87 (7) 58 (10) 87 (4) 87 (9) 93 (8) 78 (11)
Respect elders 93 (4) 85 (4) 98 (2) 91 (2) 89 (6) 87 (4) 91 (5) 98 (4) 96 (5)
Respect authority 64 (12) 56 (12) 82 (11) 86 (9) 43 (12) 84 (8) 70 (12) 81 (12) 85 (10)
Achieve a better life 93 (4) 88 (2) 96 (4) 90 (4) 89 (6) 85 (7) 92 (4) 99 (2) 92 (8)
Self-reliance 86 (7) 85 (4) 96 (4) 87 (7) 90 (5) 83 (9) 89 (7) 99 (2) 98 (2)
Creativity/imagination
86 (7) 75 (9) 84 (10) 78 (12) 79 (8) 80 (12) 71 (11) 82 (11) 88 (9)
Self-respect 97 (2) 86 (8) 99 (1) 89 (5) 93 (2) 83 (9) 93 (2) 100 (1) 97 (4)
Tolerance of others 84 (10) 69 (10) 71 (12) 79 (11) 57 (11) 81 (11) 83 (10) 94 (7) 95 (6)
Good health/hygiene
98 (1) 91 (1) 98 (2) 91 (2) 91 (4) 87 (4) 90 (6) 96 (6) 98 (2)
29
Table VIII. Rank Order of Values to be Taught to Children in Eight Countries Values Rank Cumulative Total Average Rank
Self-Respect 1 25 3
Good Health & Hygiene 2 26 3.5
Responsibility 3 27 3.5
Respect for Elders 4 31 4
Achieve a Better Life 5 33 4
Self-Reliance 6 45 5.5
Religion Faith 7 50 6
Serious Work Habits 8 51 6.5
Obedience 9 63 7
Creativity/Imagination 10 80 10
Tolerance of Others 11 82 10
Respect for Authority 12 88 11
***
B. Differences by Country
Once again, it is useful to observe that while the priority baskets of “values to be taught to
children” chosen by our respondents are somewhat similar among respondents in all of the eight
countries included in our study, the differences that may exist from country to country are themselves
interesting to note.
The Lebanese respondents, for example, were largely in agreement with the values baskets
reflecting the consensus shown in Table IV. They do, however, differ in two areas. For example, they do
give a somewhat higher ranking to teaching children the value of “creativity”, giving it the highest
priority ranking of any of the Arab groups surveyed. The Lebanese also are less focused on teaching
religious faith than any of the other Arab respondent groups.
Jordanians differed significantly from the consensus in the priority ranking on two values. They
give a much higher ranking to the importance of teaching children the need to achieve a better life and a
30
somewhat higher rating to the value of self-reliance. On the other hand, Jordanians give a somewhat
lower ranking on the value of responsibility – although in this case the difference is barely significant
because the ratings Jordanians gave to many of their top ranked values were so close.
Saudi Arabians rank teaching “religious faith” as the most important value to impart to one’s
children. In this area they differ significantly from all of the other respondent groups, with the exception
of Egypt, which also gave the highest priority to religious faith. Saudi Arabians also differ from the more
general consensus in the somewhat higher priority given to teaching the value of “respect for authority.”
Although other priority rankings made by Saudi respondents differ as well from the overall consensus
(for example, they rank teaching “self-respect” in fifth place), and because Saudi respondents gave most
of their top choices such statistically similar scores, the differences appear to be insignificant.
The responses from the United Arab Emirates differ significantly from other respondents in the
higher value they place in teaching children “responsibility” and “serious work habits.”
The same was true in Morocco, where respondents also view “serious work habits” as the highest
priority value to teach children. Moroccans also give teaching “religious faith” and “obedience” higher
priority rankings than most other Arab respondents. On the other hand, they also give a substantially
lower priority ranking to the teaching of “self-respect.”
Egyptian respondents differ from the overall consensus in two areas. They rank as their highest
priority the teaching of “religious faith” to children, while giving teaching “good health and hygiene” a
much lower ranking than most other groups of Arab respondents.
Arabs in Israel, possibly reflecting their unique circumstances, differ significantly in the priority
basket of values they choose to teach to children. They rank “self-reliance” and the need to “achieve a
better life” among the highest priority values to teach to children. They also give a substantially higher
31
ranking to the importance of teaching “tolerance of others,” and gave significantly lower priority to the
teaching of “religious faith” then did respondents in the seven Arab countries.
By comparison, Arab Americans give their highest rankings to the teaching of “responsibility”
and “self-reliance.” They also rank as a high priority teaching children to be “tolerant of the view of
others.” On the other hand, Arab Americans gave the lowest priority ranking to the teaching of “religious
faith.”
***
C. Taking A Closer Look:
The Impact of Age, Gender, Education and Internet Access
In this section we will examine in greater detail the material covered in this chapter. We will
examine each topic more closely looking at how the responses in each area differ when we compare them
not only by country, but by age (those between the ages of 18 and 29, with those over 30), gender (male
and female), education (those with a secondary education, with those who have graduated from college),
and internet access (those who have access, and those who do not).
32
1. By Age
Table IX shows how the rating and ranking of each of these values changes when we compare the
responses given by older and younger Arab respondents
Table IX. Importance of Values to Be Taught to Children by Age (% rating and ranking) Importance (4+5) Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+
Serious work habits 94 (4) 90 (7) 83 (5) 80 (8) 93 (7) 95 (6) 88 (3) 95 (3)
Responsibility 94 (4) 94 (4) 83 (5) 83 (4) 94 (6) 98 (2) 94 (1) 96 (1)
Religious faith 84 (11) 81 (11) 81 (8) 82 (6) 78 (11) 91 (8) 74 (8) 67 (9)
Obedience 90 (7) 87 (8) 69 (10) 60 (11) 91 (8) 91 (8) 65 (10) 53 (10)
Respect for elders 89 (8) 94 (4) 82 (7) 82 (6) 97 (4) 99 (1) 88 (3) 90 (7)
Respect for authority 68 (12) 62 (12) 56 (12) 50 (12) 80 (10) 84 (10) 44 (12) 43 (12)
To achieve a better life 97 (3) 91 (6) 89 (2) 85 (2) 96 (5) 97 (4) 85 (6) 92 (5)
Self-reliance 94 (4) 97 (2) 86 (4) 83 (4) 100 (1) 94 (7) 85 (6) 93 (4)
Creativity 87 (9) 85 (9) 73 (9) 75 (9) 86 (9) 83 (11) 73 (9) 83 (8)
Self-respect 99 (1) 96 (3) 87 (3) 84 (3) 100 (1) 98 (2) 88 (3) 96 (1)
Tolerance of others' views 87 (9) 82 (10) 69 (10) 63 (10) 68 (12) 74 (12) 62 (11) 53 (10)
Good health and hygiene 99 (1) 98 (1) 90 (1) 90 (1) 100 (1) 97 (4) 90 (2) 91 (6)
Table IX. Importance of Values to be Taught to Children by Age (cont.)
Importance (4+5) Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+
Serious work habits 98 (1) 88 (1) 84 (10) 86 (7) 87 (7) 90 (8) 93 (9) 94 (7)
Responsibility 92 (2) 88 (1) 91 (4) 87 (6) 94 (2) 93 (3) 98 (4) 98 (4)
Religious faith 92 (2) 88 (1) 93 (2) 97 (1) 97 (1) 94 (2) 96 (6) 94 (7)
Obedience 87 (4) 87 (6) 89 (6) 86 (7) 84 (9) 91 (5) 91 (10) 94 (7)
Respect for elders 86 (5) 88 (1) 94 (1) 89 (2) 93 (3) 90 (8) 97 (5) 98 (4)
Respect for authority 83 (8) 84 (8) 87 (8) 84 (10) 67 (12) 74 (11) 76 (12) 84 (11)
To achieve a better life 86 (5) 85 (7) 91 (4) 89 (2) 91 (4) 93 (3) 99 (2) 99 (1)
Self-reliance 82 (10) 84 (8) 87 (8) 86 (9) 87 (7) 91 (5) 100 (1) 99 (1)
Creativity 76 (12) 83 (11) 76 (11) 79 (12) 69 (11) 72 (12) 84 (11) 81 (12)
Self-respect 83 (8) 84 (8) 88 (7) 89 (2) 91 (4) 96 (1) 99 (2) 99 (1)
Tolerance of others' views 80 (11) 81 (12) 76 (11) 81 (11) 80 (10) 85 (10) 94 (8) 94 (7)
Good health and hygiene 86 (5) 88 (1) 93 (2) 89 (2) 91 (4) 91 (5) 96 (6) 96 (6)
33
Overview: When viewed in the aggregate, it appears that age produces only slight differences in
overall attitudes in only 3 areas. In general, older Arabs show slight preference to teaching children
respect for elders, the need to achieve a better life, and self-respect.
By Country: There was little difference in the ratings given to these values by both young and
old Lebanese. Despite the fact that there were some significant differences in the final ranking of some
of these items, because the percentages given each were so close, the differences were not of great
consequence. The only gap worth noting is the one that exists with regard to teaching “The need to
achieve a better life.” This value is ranked and rated higher by young Lebanese.
The same is true in Jordan. In fact, the only substantial differences in the ratings given by young
and old only appear in the lowest ranked items.
Most Kuwaitis also agree on the rank order of priority values to teach their children. The only
real gaps occur in two areas. Older Kuwaitis give somewhat more value to the importance of teaching
religious faith to children, while younger Kuwaiti’s give the value of self-reliance their highest rating.
Among Arabs in the UAE, age appears to create greater intensity of concern for the values to be
targeted to children. While younger respondents in the UAE only put two values in the 90% range
(responsibility and good health and hygiene) those who are older give six values this high rating.
Older Arabs in the Emirates place more importance on teaching self-respect, self-reliance, serious
work habits, the need to achieve a better life, and creativity. Younger Arabs in the Emirates show some
preference at the low end of their priority scale for teaching religious faith and tolerance.
Among Moroccans there is little difference between young and old in the ratings they give to the
values under discussion. Because of this, the differences in the rank order given to some of these items
are not significant.
34
The same is true in Saudi Arabia. The only issue to note here is the fact that while young Saudis
give 90% ratings to five values, older Saudis give this higher percentile rating to only one – teaching
religious faith.
There is very little difference in the responses given by young and old Egyptians. Only in two
areas did a significant gap appear. Older Egyptians show greater concern for teaching children obedience
and respect for authority.
Teaching respect for authority is the only area where older Arabs in Israel differ from their
younger compatriots. But this value is near the end of their priority listing.
***
35
2. By Gender
Table X shows the differences that occur in the rating and ranking given to each of these values
when we compare the responses given by the gender of the respondents.
Table X. Importance of Values to Be Taught to Children by Gender (% of rating and ranking) Importance (4+5) Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Serious work habits 90 (7) 92 (6) 86 (3) 78 (8) 93 (7) 94 (7) 92 (3) 93 (2)
Responsibility 95 (4) 93 (5) 83 (7) 84 (6) 96 (4) 96 (6) 95 (1) 94 (1)
Religious faith 80 (11) 83 (10) 85 (4) 81 (7) 90 (8) 79 (10) 68 (9) 75 (8)
Obedience 89 (8) 87 (8) 65 (11) 73 (9) 90 (8) 92 (8) 55 (10) 63 (10)
Respect for elders 91 (6) 94 (3) 85 (4) 85 (4) 99 (1) 97 (3) 89 (6) 89 (6)
Respect for authority 64 (12) 63 (12) 57 (12) 55 (12) 84 (11) 79 (10) 42 (12) 46 (12)
To achieve a better life 92 (5) 92 (6) 91 (2) 85 (4) 96 (4) 97 (3) 89 (6) 91 (3)
Self-reliance 98 (2) 94 (3) 84 (6) 86 (3) 95 (6) 97 (3) 92 (3) 87 (7)
Creativity 85 (9) 86 (9) 82 (8) 66 (11) 85 (10) 83 (9) 81 (8) 75 (8)
Self-respect 98 (2) 95 (2) 81 (9) 92 (1) 98 (2) 100 (1) 94 (2) 90 (4)
Tolerance of others' views 84 (10) 83 (10) 66 (10) 72 (10) 72 (12) 69 (12) 55 (10) 60 (11)
Good health and hygiene 100 (1) 97 (1) 93 (1) 89 (2) 98 (2) 99 (2) 91 (5) 90 (4)
Table X. Importance of Teaching Children by Gender
Importance (4+5) Morocco Saudi Arabia Egypt Israel
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Serious work habits 92 (1) 92 (1) 81 (9) 89 (10) 89 (7) 87 (9) 96 (6) 91 (9)
Responsibility 89 (2) 91 (2) 83 (4) 94 (6) 93 (2) 93 (2) 98 (5) 98 (4)
Religious faith 89 (2) 90 (3) 93 (1) 98 (1) 95 (1) 96 (1) 94 (9) 95 (7)
Obedience 88 (4) 86 (5) 82 (6) 92 (8) 86 (9) 89 (7) 96 (6) 90 (10)
Respect for elders 88 (4) 86 (5) 86 (2) 96 (3) 92 (3) 89 (7) 99 (1) 96 (6)
Respect for authority 83 (9) 85 (7) 78 (10) 93 (7) 69 (11) 71 (12) 84 (11) 77 (12)
To achieve a better life 86 (6) 84 (8) 84 (3) 95 (4) 90 (6) 94 (3) 99 (1) 99 (1)
Self-reliance 84 (8) 83 (10) 82 (6) 91 (9) 88 (8) 90 (5) 99 (1) 99 (1)
Creativity 81 (12) 79 (11) 76 (12) 80 (12) 69 (11) 72 (11) 77 (12) 88 (11)
Self-respect 83 (9) 84 (8) 82 (6) 95 (4) 91 (4) 95 (2) 99 (1) 99 (1)
Tolerance of others' views 82 (11) 79 (11) 77 (11) 81 (11) 78 (10) 86 (10) 93 (10) 94 (8)
Good health and hygiene 85 (7) 89 (4) 83 (4) 98 (1) 91 (4) 90 (5) 95 (8) 97 (5)
Overview: Once again, gender does not appear to generate significant differences in attitudes
toward the values our respondents seek to teach to children. Some differences do occur with regard to
teaching of responsibility, respect for elders and serious work habits. Men give more weight to all of
36
these. Women, on the other hand, give more weight to teaching self-respect in 5 of the 8 countries
surveyed.
By Country: Lebanese and Moroccan men and women largely agree on the values to be taught
to their young. There were virtually no observable gender gaps in these two countries.
The most significant difference among Jordanians is in the very high rating Jordanian women
give to teaching self-respect. Jordanian men, on the other hand, emphasize serious work habits, the need
to achieve a better life and creativity. Women in Jordan also give more weight to obedience.
The only difference between Kuwaiti men and women is over the importance of teaching
religious faith. While both genders see this as a lower ranking value, it receives a higher rating among
men.
Among Arab men and women in the UAE there were a few slight differences in attitudes towards
values to be taught, with most of these occurring among lower ranked items. For example, women offer
higher ratings to teaching religious faith, obedience, and tolerance. Men, on the other hand, give a higher
rank and slightly higher score to teaching self-reliance.
Significant differences existed between Saudi men and women. In the first place, women in
Saudi Arabia rate 9 of the 12 values in the 90th
percentile. Saudi men give only one value this high a
score. As a result, women tend toward higher ratings on every value, with the most significant gender
differences occurring with regard to teaching good health and hygiene, self-respect, respect for authority,
responsibility, the need to achieve a better life, respect for elders and obedience.
The ratings given these values by Egyptian men and women were fairly close in most areas.
While some differences in ranking did occur, because of the closeness of the ratings, these differences
were insubstantial.
37
Israeli Arab men show preference for teaching the young respect for elders and authority, and
serious work habits. Women rate teaching creativity more highly than do men – but place this value at the
very low end of their preferences. Israeli Arab men and women all give identical top rankings to
teaching self-reliance and the need to achieve a better life.
***
38
3. By Education
Table XI shows the differences that occur in the ratings and rankings given to each of these values
when we compare them by the educational level of our respondents.
Table XI. Importance of Values to Be Taught to Children by Education (% of rating and ranking) Importance (4+5) Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Serious work habits 90 (7) 92 (6) 80 (6) 84 (7) 93 (8) 94 (6) 93 (4) 92 (2)
Responsibility 93 (6) 94 (4) 78 (8) 87 (4) 100 (1) 94 (6) 100 (1) 95 (1)
Religious faith 88 (9) 77 (11) 79 (7) 86 (5) 87 (9) 85 (9) 100 (1) 69 (9)
Obedience 97 (2) 81 (10) 64 (10) 73 (10) 95 (6) 89 (8) 79 (9) 57 (10)
Respect for elders 97 (2) 90 (7) 87 (2) 83 (8) 100 (1) 97 (3) 93 (4) 89 (6)
Respect for authority 66 (12) 62 (12) 52 (12) 58 (12) 75 (11) 85 (9) 71 (10) 42 (12)
To achieve a better life 89 (8) 94 (4) 85 (3) 90 (1) 96 (5) 96 (4) 93 (4) 89 (6)
Self-reliance 94 (5) 97 (2) 83 (4) 86 (5) 95 (6) 96 (4) 93 (4) 90 (5)
Creativity 84 (10) 87 (8) 67 (9) 81 (9) 82 (10) 85 (9) 57 (12) 80 (8)
Self-respect 97 (2) 96 (3) 83 (4) 89 (3) 97 (4) 99 (1) 100 (1) 92 (2)
Tolerance of others' views
78 (11) 87 (8) 63 (11) 73 (10) 58 (12) 76 (12) 64 (11) 56 (11)
Good health and hygiene
99 (1) 98 (1) 91 (1) 90 (1) 100 (1) 98 (2) 93 (4) 91 (4)
Table XI. Importance of Values to Be Taught to Children by Education
Importance (4+5) Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Serious work habits 89 (1) 94 (3) 80 (11) 88 (3) 85 (9) 89 (7) 93 (10) 93 (6)
Responsibility 80 (3) 96 (1) 86 (8) 90 (2) 92 (3) 93 (4) 98 (5) 100 (1)
Religious faith 82 (2) 94 (3) 99 (1) 93 (1) 95 (1) 95 (1) 95 (7) 93 (6)
Obedience 75 (5) 94 (3) 90 (6) 85 (8) 88 (8) 86 (9) 94 (8) 82 (11)
Respect for elders 77 (4) 94 (3) 95 (2) 88 (3) 89 (6) 91 (5) 99 (2) 93 (6)
Respect for authority 71 (8) 92 (10) 87 (7) 84 (10) 69 (11) 69 (12) 83 (11) 63 (12)
To achieve a better life 72 (7) 93 (8) 93 (4) 87 (6) 90 (4) 94 (2) 99 (2) 100 (1)
Self-reliance 67 (9) 93 (8) 85 (9) 87 (6) 89 (6) 89 (7) 100 (1) 100 (1)
Creativity 65 (11) 89 (12) 75 (12) 80 (11) 66 (12) 74 (11) 82 (12) 89 (9)
Self-respect 67 (9) 94 (3) 93 (4) 85 (8) 93 (2) 94 (2) 99 (2) 100 (1)
Tolerance of others' views
62 (12) 92 (10) 85 (9) 75 (12) 81 (10) 83 (10) 94 (8) 89 (9)
Good health and hygiene
73 (6) 96 (1) 94 (3) 88 (3) 90 (4) 90 (6) 96 (6) 96 (5)
39
Overview: Overall education does appear to produce an impact on the rating and ranking given
to values to be taught to children. Arabs, for example, with a college education give much greater
weight to teaching responsibility, serious work habits, self-reliance and working to achieve a better
life. This college educated group also gives somewhat less weight than their secondary school
educated compatriots to teaching the values of respect for elders, obedience and religious faith.
By Country: College educated Lebanese give a much lower priority to teaching children respect
for elders, obedience and religious faith. On the other hand, more educated Lebanese give slightly higher
ratings to self-reliance and the working to achieve a better life. They also showed greater preference for
teaching creativity and tolerance for the views of others.
There were a number of areas where education made a difference in the values preferred by
Jordanians. Those with college degrees, for example, greatly prefer teaching children the need to achieve
a better life, self-respect, responsibility, religious faith, and at the low end of their preferences, authority
and tolerance. Jordanians with a secondary education or less, on the other hand, place teaching respect
for elders closer to the top.
Real differences among college and secondary school educated Kuwaitis appeared in five areas.
Those with a secondary school education or less are much more likely to rank teaching responsibility,
respect for elders, and obedience at the top. Those Kuwaitis with a college education differ in the higher
ranking they give to teaching self-respect and, the higher ratings they give to teaching respect for
authority and, at the bottom of the scale, tolerance for the views of others.
Education appears to have a great impact on the attitudes of Arabs in the Emirates. In the first
place, those with a secondary education or less give the values in question much higher ratings overall.
Arabs in the UAE in both groups do agree on the rank order they gave to most of the values they would
40
choose to teach their children. The most significant differences were those with a college education who
are much more likely to prefer teaching serious work habits and creativity to their children, while those
with a secondary school education favor emphasizing religious faith and respect for authority.
In the case of Morocco it is those with a college education who give the higher scores to the
values they selected. On11 of the 12 values in question, we see ratings of 91% or more, while Moroccans
with a secondary school education place no value in the 90% range. Additionally, it is worth noting that
college educated Moroccans give a much higher ranking to teaching good health and hygiene,
responsibility, and self-respect.
While there are a number of differences in the rankings and the ratings given by Saudis, between
those with and without college education, the most striking gaps occurred in 2 areas. Saudis with
college education are significantly more inclined to teach their children the value of serious work
habits, responsibility, and self-reliance. On the other hand, those Saudis with secondary school
education or less place greater value on teaching self-respect, the need to achieve a better life and respect
for elders and obedience. Though both groups agree on a lower ranking for teaching tolerance of
another’s views, surprisingly Saudis without a college degree give this value a higher rating and ranking
than their more educated compatriots.
There were virtually no significant differences in the values chosen by the two groups of
Egyptians covered in this study. Only with regard to one value, teaching creativity to children, do
Egyptians with a college degree differ from their compatriots with secondary school education or less.
Israeli Arabs offer higher ratings to most of the values covered in our survey, making
comparisons difficult especially among the values to which they gave the highest rankings, where
rankings might differ but ratings given by both groups were very close.
***
41
4. By Internet Access
Table XII shows how the ratings and rankings given to each of these values when we compare them by the
Internet Access of our respondents.
Table XII. Importance of Values to Be Taught to Children by Internet Access (% rating and
ranking) Importance (4+5) Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
Internet access... Internet access... Internet access... Internet access...
Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No
Serious work habits 93 (6) 90 (7) 82 (6) 85 (6) 93 (7) 96 (5) 91 (3) 94 (2)
Responsibility 94 (4) 94 (5) 81 (7) 88 (3) 95 (6) 99 (2) 95 (1) 94 (2)
Religious faith 74 (11) 86 (9) 80 (8) 87 (5) 82 (10) 90 (9) 69 (9) 77 (9)
Obedience 86 (8) 89 (8) 67 (11) 73 (9) 92 (8) 91 (8) 56 (11) 66 (10)
Respect for elders 87 (7) 96 (2) 84 (5) 88 (3) 97 (3) 100 (1) 88 (7) 96 (1)
Respect for authority 64 (12) 63 (12) 53 (12) 57 (12) 81 (11) 86 (11) 41 (12) 53 (12)
To achieve a better life 94 (4) 91 (6) 87 (3) 92 (2) 96 (5) 96 (5) 89 (6) 91 (6)
Self-reliance 99 (1) 95 (4) 87 (3) 84 (8) 97 (3) 95 (7) 90 (4) 89 (7)
Creativity 86 (8) 86 (9) 79 (9) 71 (10) 86 (9) 87 (10) 78 (8) 83 (8)
Self-respect 97 (3) 96 (2) 88 (2) 85 (6) 99 (1) 98 (3) 92 (2) 94 (2)
Tolerance of others' views 82 (10) 84 (11) 68 (10) 70 (11) 72 (12) 73 (12) 57 (10) 57 (11)
Good health and hygiene 98 (2) 98 (1) 90 (1) 95 (1) 99 (1) 97 (4) 90 (4) 94 (2)
Table XXI. Importance of Values to Be Taught to Children by Internet Access (cont.)
Importance (4+5) Morocco Saudi Arabia
Egypt Israel
Internet access... Internet access... Internet access... Internet access...
Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No
Serious work habits 97 (1) 88 (1) 90 (9) 79 (10) 90 (7) 88 (8) 93 (8) 94 (8)
Responsibility 95 (2) 85 (2) 93 (4) 84 (7) 93 (3) 94 (2) 99 (4) 98 (4)
Religious faith 95 (2) 85 (2) 96 (1) 96 (1) 93 (3) 97 (1) 91 (9) 96 (6)
Obedience 92 (9) 81 (4) 90 (9) 87 (5) 81 (9) 90 (7) 88 (10) 94 (8)
Respect for elders 94 (5) 80 (5) 95 (2) 86 (6) 91 (5) 91 (4) 96 (6) 98 (4)
Respect for authority 89 (11) 78 (7) 91 (7) 82 (9) 64 (12) 72 (11) 75 (12) 83 (11)
To achieve a better life 94 (5) 77 (8) 93 (4) 89 (4) 96 (2) 91 (4) 100 (1) 99 (1)
Self-reliance 94 (5) 72 (10) 93 (4) 83 (8) 89 (8) 88 (8) 100 (1) 99 (1)
Creativity 89 (11) 72 (10) 87 (11) 69 (12) 76 (11) 70 (12) 88 (10) 80 (12)
Self-respect 93 (8) 75 (9) 91 (7) 92 (2) 97 (1) 92 (3) 100 (1) 99 (1)
Tolerance of others' views 91 (10) 70 (12) 84 (12) 77 (11) 79 (10) 84 (10) 94 (7) 94 (8)
Good health and hygiene 95 (2) 80 (5) 95 (2) 92 (2) 91 (5) 91 (4) 98 (5) 95 (7)
42
Overview: Access to the internet had an impact on the importance with which our respondents
viewed a small number of the values to be taught children. For example, in all eight countries, Arabs
with internet access give a higher rating to the importance of teaching children to value self-
reliance, and in all cases, place this value in their top basket of choices. Among Arabs, without internet
access, this value scores much lower and in only two countries does it rate among the top four values to
be taught to children.
The opposite was true with regard to teaching “respect for elders.” Among Arabs with
internet access, this value ranks lower in the six of the eight countries. While “respect for elders”
ranks in the top basket of priority values among those without internet access in the six countries, in only
two countries is it a highly ranked value. Although at the lower end of the scale, it is worth noting that in
five of eight countries those with internet access place teaching children the value of religious faith a
lower ranking than do our respondents without access. The major exceptions here were Saudi Arabia and
Morocco. Also at the low end is teaching the value of creativity. Teaching this value is favored more
often by internet users, than by those without access to the internet.
By Country: The most significant differences that appear in ranking given to these values by
Lebanese, when compared by internet use, occur with regard to teaching of self-reliance and respect for
elders. While Lebanese internet users rank self-reliance as the highest rate value to teach children, those
without internet access, rank this value 4th
in importance. Conversely, Lebanese without internet access
give a much higher ranking to teaching respect for elders. This group also places a higher value on
teaching religious faith.
Among Jordanians those without internet access appear to give greater preference to teaching
children “the need to achieve a better life,” responsibility, religious faith, and respect for elders.
43
Arabs in the UAE and Kuwaitis on both sides of the internet divide are somewhat similar in their
responses to most of the values covered here.
As in the case of educational levels achieved, Moroccans and Saudis with internet access grant
significantly higher scores to all of the values covered in the survey. Those without internet access give a
higher ranking to teaching obedience and respect for elders and authority. Moroccans with access to the
internet, place greater weight to the “need to achieve a better life,” good hygiene, and self-reliance.
Saudis with internet access put special value on teaching responsibility, self-reliance, and respect
for elders. Those without access put greater weight to teaching children the values of obedience and self-
respect.
In Egypt, the differences worth noting occurred in the case of five of the values being measured
here. Egyptians with internet access give higher priority to the importance of teaching their children self-
respect and the “need to achieve a better life.” Those without internet access prefer teaching religious
faith and obedience.
Because Arabs in Israel on both sides of the internet divide gave high scores to most of the values
being covered in this survey, the differences, especially among those values given higher rankings, are
not substantial enough to note.
***
44
IV. The Importance of Political Issues
A. Overview
When asked to state the personal importance of a number of political issues, the “baskets” and
priority rankings of issues selected by our respondents were quite revealing.
In all eight countries, those surveyed were asked to rank, in order of importance, ten different
political issues. They were: Palestine; the rights of the Palestinian people; “your civil and personal
rights;” the general Arab situation; relations with non-Arab countries; health care; the economy of “your
country;” that “your country” is changing to meet challenges; and moral standards.
As before, respondents were asked to grade each of these political issues in order of importance to
them personally, from one to five, with one being “not important” and five meaning “extremely
important”.
Without question, "civil and personal rights" earned the overall highest priority rating
given to any political issue. This was followed by the matter of health care. Virtually tied, as the
next most important political issues, were the question of Palestine; their personal economic
situation; and the rights of the Palestinian people.
The lowest priority rankings were given to: the concern that the respondents’ country is changing
to meet new challenges; the general Arab situation; and relations with non-Arab countries.
Once again, as in the first two sections discussed above, it appears that when given the
opportunity to rank the importance of issues, the overall priority seems to point to matters that
affect personal life – but with an intriguing twist.
The extremely high rating given to civil and personal rights speaks for itself, as does the high
priority given to the issues of health care and the economy. But the very high ratings for Palestine and
45
the “rights of the Palestinian people” appear to indicate that for many Arabs the issue of Palestine has
become an intensely personal matter.
After more than three generations of conflict, the betrayal and the denial of Palestinian rights, this
issue of Palestine appears to have become a defining one of general Arab concern. It is not seen in the
same way as “the general Arab situation,” nor does it appear to be viewed as an issue of foreign policy as
in “relations with non-Arab countries.” Rather, for our respondents, the situation of the Palestinians
appears to have become a personal matter lumped together in a basket of other issues like civil rights
and health care and ahead of more general concerns like moral standards or the state of their country’s
economy.
Tables XIII and XIV, provided below, record the cumulative responses given by country. In
Table XIII, the percentages given indicate the percentage of those respondents, in each individual country
who gave a 4 or 5 to each of the listed political issues. The bold numbers, in parentheses, indicate the
rank order of importance of the issue in the country in question.
In order to develop an overall Arab picture of priority political issues, we created a cumulative
total for the eight-country rankings. Again, the higher the priority given to a political issue the lower its
cumulative total. The results of this ranking are found in Table XIV.
46
Table XIII. Importance of Political Issues (rating and ranking)
Importance (4+5) Lebano
n Jordan Kuwait
Saudi Arabia
UAE Morocc
o Egypt Israel
Palestine 69 (7) 83 (4) 90 (5) 97 (1) 90 (5) 92 (1) 89 (3) 93 (4)
Rights of Palestinians
67 (8) 86 (2) 85 (7) 96 (2) 92 (3) 90 (2) 86 (5) 93 (4)
Civil/ Personal rights
91 (2) 90 (1) 96 (2) 93 (3) 95 (1) 90 (2) 92 (1) 96 (2)
General Arab situation
58 (9) 64 (9) 79 (9) 82 (8) 57 (9) 78 (8) 66 (9) 85 (8)
Relations with non-Arab nations
48 (10) 45 (10) 54 (10) 64 (10) 42 (10) 60 (10) 50 (10) 77 (10)
Health care 92 (1) 84 (3) 97 (1) 92 (1) 91 (1) 87 (4) 90 (2) 98 (1)
Personal economic situation
91 (2) 80 (6) 91 (4) 92 (4) 93 (2) 85 (5) 86 (5) 93 (4)
Economy of country 86 (5) 69 (7) 85 (7) 89 (7) 62 (7) 83 (6) 77 (7) 87 (7)
Country to meet new challenges
70 (6) 65 (8) 86 (6) 80 (6) 59 (8) 64 (9) 68 (8) 84 (9)
Moral standards 89 (4) 83 (4) 97 (1) 86 (1) 66 (6) 77 (7) 89 (3) 95 (3)
Table XIV. Rank Order of Political Issues in Eight Countries Political Issue Rank Cumulative Total Average Rank
Civil/Personal Rights 1 15 2
Health Care 2 20 2.5
Palestine 3 30 4
Personal Economic Situation
4 32 4
Rights of Palestinians 5 33 4
Moral Standards 6 35 4.5
Economy of Country 7 52 5.5
Country Meeting New Challenges
8 63 6
General Arab Situation 9 69 7
Relationship w/Non-Arab Countries
10 80 10
***
47
B. Differences by Country
Once again we can observe that while the overall baskets of political issues chosen by our
respondents differ only slightly from country to country, a look at the areas where different priority
choices do appear can reveal some interesting results.
In Lebanon, for example, in addition to the health care and the matter of civil and personal rights,
a high priority ranking is given by the respondents to their personal economic situation. The Lebanese
also rank issues of moral standards and the economic health of their country at the top. On the other
hand, the Lebanese, who, in our other polling do show concern for Palestinian rights, in this study, rank
this concern far below the others in its priority ranking.
Somewhat the same is the true in Kuwait, where the issues of Palestine and the rights of the
Palestine people, while valued, rank only fifth and seventh in order of priority.
Conversely, in Saudi Arabia and Morocco, the issues of Palestine and the rights of the Palestinian
people are given the two highest ratings among respondents in both countries.
The only other significant differences in priority ranking that bear mentioning occur in Kuwait,
Egypt and among Arabs in Israel, who all appear to share a deeper concern for contemporary moral
standards than do respondents in other countries. For Kuwaitis, the matter of moral standards is the
highest-ranking political issue, tied with health care, with the question of civil and political rights
following by only a percentage point. In Egypt and among the Arabs in Israel, the matter of moral
standards is the third highest rated issue.
48
C. Taking a Closer Look
The Impact of Age, Gender, Education and Internet Access
In this section we will examine in greater detail the material covered in this chapter. We will
examine each topic more closely looking at how the responses in each area differ when we compare them
not only by country, but by age (those between the ages of 18 and 29, with those over 30), gender (male
and female), education (those with a secondary education, with those who have graduated from college),
and internet access (those who have access, and those who do not).
1. By Age
Table XV shows how the ratings and rankings given to each of these political issues differed
when we compared them by the age of our respondents.
Table XV. Importance of Issues by Age (% of rating and ranking) Importance (4+5) Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+
The issue of Palestine 70 (7) 68 (7) 81 (5) 83 (3) 86 (5) 93 (4) 85 (5) 95 (2)
The rights of the Palestinian people
71 (6) 66 (8) 82 (3) 91 (1) 77 (8) 90 (8) 88 (4) 95 (2)
Your civil and personal rights
88 (3) 92 (2) 87 (1) 91 (1) 94 (3) 98 (1) 91 (1) 97 (1)
The general Arab situation 55 (9) 59 (9) 60 (8) 64 (9) 74 (9) 83 (9) 59 (9) 55 (8)
Relations with non-Arab countries
38 (10) 52 (10) 35 (10) 44 (10) 53 (10) 55 (10) 49 (10) 37 (10)
Health care 93 (1) 91 (3) 82 (3) 79 (5) 96 (1) 98 (1) 90 (3) 91 (5)
Your personal economic situation
83 (4) 93 (1) 77 (6) 77 (6) 88 (4) 93 (4) 91 (1) 94 (4)
The economy of your country
83 (4) 87 (5) 61(7) 71 (7) 78 (7) 91 (6) 65 (7) 59 (6)
That your country is changing to meet new challenges
67 (8) 71 (6) 59 (9) 69 (8) 79 (6) 91 (6) 64 (8) 55 (8)
Moral standards 89 (2) 89 (4) 84 (2) 82 (4) 96 (1) 97 (3) 76 (6) 59 (6)
49
Table X. Importance of Issues by Age (cont.)
Importance (4+5) Morocco Saudi Arabia Egypt Israel
18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+
The issue of Palestine 96 (1) 88 (2) 95 (1) 97 (1) 90 (2) 87 (4) 95 (4) 91 (6)
The rights of the Palestinian people
91 (3) 89 (1) 95 (1) 97 (1) 88 (4) 84 (6) 96 (3) 92 (5)
Your civil and personal rights
93 (2) 87 (6) 92 (3) 94 (3) 92 (1) 91 (1) 98 (1) 94 (3)
The general Arab situation 73 (8) 82 (7) 83 (8) 80 (8) 68 (9) 61 (9) 87 (8) 83 (9)
Relations with non-Arab countries
57 (9) 61 (10) 56 (10) 69 (10) 48 (10) 50 (10) 80 (10) 75 (10)
Health care 86 (4) 88 (2) 91 (5) 93 (4) 89 (3) 91 (1) 98 (1) 97 (1)
Your personal economic situation
83 (5) 88 (2) 92 (3) 92 (5) 86 (6) 87 (4) 92 (6) 94 (3)
The economy of your country
78 (6) 88 (2) 88 (6) 89 (6) 80 (7) 74 (7) 89 (7) 86 (7)
That your country is changes to meet new challenges
54 (10) 73 (9) 80 (9) 79 (9) 70 (8) 64 (8) 81 (9) 86 (7)
Moral standards 76 (7) 78 (8) 87 (7) 86 (7) 88 (4) 90 (3) 93 (5) 96 (2)
Overview: While the impact of age on political choices varies from country to country, in the
aggregate, it appears to impact only a few issues. In six of eight countries covered in our study, for
example, older Arabs appear to be somewhat more concerned with their personal economic
situation than younger Arabs are. Younger Arabs, on the other hand, appear to be slightly more
concerned with the issue of moral standards.
By Country: In Lebanon, those between the ages of 18-29 give a slightly higher rating and a
higher ranking to health care and the rights of the Palestinians. Older Lebanese are more concerned with
their personal economic situation and their civil and personal rights. In Jordan, older respondents express
greater concern for the rights of the Palestinian people and with the economy and other challenges facing
Jordan.
50
Older Kuwaitis give higher scores to all of the issues covered in our survey and put concerns for
civil rights, the issue of Palestine, and the economy of Kuwait at the top of the list. Younger Kuwaitis,
on the other hand, give a higher ranking (though lower rating) to the matter of moral standards.
The only significant differences among respondents in the UAE were that those who are more
than 30 years old experience greater concern with Palestinian-related issues, while younger respondents
are more likely to rank issues dealing with their economic situation and health care as more pressing.
Age played a large role in the political choices made by Moroccans. Younger Moroccans, for
example, display greater concern with the issue of Palestine and civil rights, while older Moroccans gave
higher rankings and ratings to health care, their personal economic situation and the economy of their
country.
Age appeared to play almost no role in the political concerns of Saudis while in Egypt it only
appeared to affect one area. Younger Egyptians give a higher score to both Palestine-related issues.
Among Arabs in Israel age appears to play a role in determining political priorities. Younger
Arabs in our survey were more focused on civil rights and Palestinian-related issues, while older Israeli
Arabs gave higher rankings to moral standards and their personal economic situation.
***
51
2. By Gender
Table XVI shows the differences that occur in the rating and ranking given to each of these
political issues when we compare the responses given by the gender of the respondents.
Table XVI. Importance of Issues by Gender (% rating and ranking) Importance (4+5) Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
The issue of Palestine 68 (7) 70 (6) 88 (3) 78 (6) 91 (4) 89 (5) 93 (2) 86 (5)
The rights of the Palestinian people
65 (8) 69 (7) 89 (2) 82 (4) 86 (7) 84 (7) 93 (2) 91 (4)
Your civil and personal rights
91 (3) 90 (2) 90 (1) 91 (1) 96 (3) 97 (1) 95 (1) 94 (1)
The general Arab situation 60 (9) 55 (9) 66 (9) 63 (7) 83 (9) 74 (9) 55 (9) 60 (9)
Relations with non-Arab countries
54 (10) 41 (10) 47 (10) 42 (10) 54 (10) 54 (10) 42 (10) 43 (10)
Health care 90 (4) 93 (1) 83 (5) 85 (2) 98 (1) 96 (3) 90 (5) 92 (3)
Your personal economic situation
92 (1) 89 (3) 76 (7) 83 (3) 90 (5) 93 (4) 93 (2) 93 (2)
The economy of your country
84 (5) 88 (4) 77 (6) 60 (9) 85 (8) 86 (6) 59 (7) 67 (7)
That your country is changing to meet new challenges
73 (6) 67 (8) 67 (8) 61 (8) 87 (6) 82 (8) 56 (8) 64 (8)
Moral standards 92 (1) 86 (5) 87 (4) 79 (5) 97 (2) 97 (1) 61 (6) 75 (6)
Table XVI. Importance of Issues by Gender (cont.)
Importance (4+5) Morocco Saudi Arabia
Egypt Israel
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
The issue of Palestine 92 (1) 91 (1) 96 (1) 97 (2) 91 (2) 88 (4) 89 (5) 97(2)
The rights of the Palestinian people
90 (2) 90 (3) 95 (2) 98 (1) 89 (5) 84 (5) 89 (5) 97 (2)
Your civil and personal rights
90 (2) 89(4) 91 (3) 95 (5) 94 (1) 89 (2) 93 (3) 98 (1)
The general Arab situation 80 (7) 76 (7) 78 (8) 84 (8) 68 (9) 64 (9) 80 (9) 90 (7)
Relations with non-Arab countries
60 (10) 59 (10) 73 (10) 55 (10) 51 (10) 48 (10) 76 (10) 78 (10)
Health care 84 (5) 91 (1) 86 (5) 97 (2) 91 (2) 89 (2) 99 (1) 97(2)
Your personal economic situation
84 (5) 87 (5) 87 (4) 97 (2) 90 (4) 82 (6) 93 (3) 94 (5)
The economy of your country
85 (4) 81 (6) 82 (6) 95 (5) 80 (7) 75 (7) 88 (7) 86 (8)
That your country is 62 (9) 68 (9) 75 (9) 84 (8) 71 (8) 65 (8) 84 (8) 84 (9)
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changing to meet new challenges
Moral standards 78 (8) 76 (7) 80 (7) 92 (7) 89 (5) 90 (1) 96 (2) 93 (6)
Overview: Once again, when considered in the aggregate, gender does not appear to play a
decisive role in shaping overall Arab political attitudes. In only two areas do differences appear. Men
give greater weight to Palestinian-related issues, while women, overall, are more focused on health
care.
When viewed on a country-by-country basis, however, more substantial differences appear.
By Country: Men in Lebanon give higher priority to two political concerns: moral standards and
their personal economic situation. Lebanese women, on the other hand, place greater weight to health
care and the economy of the country. Women also are slightly more concerned with Palestine-related
issues than are men.
For Jordanian men Palestine-related issues, moral standards, and the economy of the country are a
high priority. Women in Jordan give a significantly higher ranking (though only slightly higher rating) to
health care as an issue and also display greater concern for their personal economic situation.
Men in Kuwait, overall, give higher scores to most of the issues under consideration. They also
show greater concern for health care and civil rights than do Kuwaiti women.
Men in the UAE are more likely to be concerned about Palestinian-related issues. Women, on the
other hand, place greater value on health care. While both men and women in the UAE give identical
rankings to a number of lower priority concerns: moral standards, the country’s economy, the ability of
the country to face new challenges and the general Arab situation – women give consistently higher
ratings to all four issues.
53
Men and women in Morocco only differ in two areas. Women rank health care more highly,
while men show somewhat greater concern with the economy of the country.
Gender appeared to play a very significant role in shaping the political attitudes of Saudis.
Overall women grant higher ratings to all of the issues under consideration in our survey. They also give
significantly higher rankings to health care and their personal economic situation. Men, on the other
hand, place a higher rank (though lower rating) on the issue of civil and personal rights.
For Egyptian men civil rights issues are a high priority, as is concern with their personal
economic situation and to the issue of Palestine. Women in Egypt are more concerned with the issue of
moral standards.
Israeli Arab men offer higher rankings to health care and moral standards, while their women
compatriots display greater concern with Palestine-related issues and civil rights.
***
54
3. By Education
Table XVII shows the differences that occur in the ratings and rankings given to each of these
political issues when we compare them by the educational level of our respondents.
Table XVII. Importance of Issues by Education (% rating and ranking) Importance (4+5) Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
The issue of Palestine 65 (6) 71 (8) 80 (5) 85 (2) 93 (4) 90 (5) 93 (4) 90 (5)
The rights of the Palestinian people
58 (7) 73 (7) 88 (2) 84 (4) 90 (5) 83 (8) 93 (4) 92 (2)
Your civil and personal rights
91 (3) 91 (1) 93 (1) 88 (1) 97 (2) 96 (2) 100 (1) 94 (1)
The general Arab situation 52 (9) 61 (9) 63 (9) 65 (8) 74 (9) 81 (9) 93 (4) 55 (9)
Relations with non-Arab countries
44 (10) 51 (10) 44 (10) 45 (10) 48 (10) 56 (10) 86 (8) 40 (10)
Health care 93 (1) 91 (1) 82 (4) 85 (2) 100 (1) 96 (2) 93 (4) 91 (4)
Your personal economic situation
93 (1) 89 (4) 74 (6) 84 (4) 88 (6) 92 (4) 100 (1) 92 (2)
The economy of your country
83 (5) 88 (5) 71 (8) 67 (7) 86 (7) 85 (6) 100 (1) 60 (7)
That your country is changing to meet new challenges
58 (7) 78 (6) 72 (7) 60 (9) 86 (7) 85 (6) 79 (10) 58 (8)
Moral standards 88 (4) 90 (3) 87 (3) 81 (6) 96 (3) 97 (1) 86 (8) 65 (6)
Table XVII. Importance of Issues by Education (cont.)
Importance (4+5) Morocco Saudi Arabia Egypt Israel
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
The issue of Palestine 89 (1) 93 (4) 100 (1) 95 (1) 89 (2) 91 (2) 93 5) 93 (4)
The rights of the Palestinian people
83 (2) 94 (3) 100 (1) 94 (2) 87 (4) 88 (4) 94 (4) 93 (4)
Your civil and personal rights
80 (3) 96 (1) 96 (3) 92 (3) 89 (2) 93 (1) 96 (2) 96 (2)
The general Arab situation 76 (6) 79 (8) 81 (8) 82 (8) 67 (8) 70 (9) 85 (8) 78 (7)
Relations with non-Arab countries
61 (9) 59 (10) 57 (10) 68 (10) 52 (10) 52 (10) 77 (10) 70 (10)
Health care 78 (4) 93 (4) 96 (3) 90 5) 87 (4) 91 (2) 97 (1) 100 (1)
Your personal economic situation
70 (7) 95 (2) 94 5) 91 (4) 87 (4) 86 (6) 93 5) 93 (4)
The economy of your country
77 (5) 88 (6) 94 5) 85 (6) 78 (7) 82 (7) 88 (7) 74 (8)
That your country is changing to meet new challenges
60 (10) 67 (9) 81 (8) 79 (9) 65 (9) 73 (8) 85 (8) 74 (8)
Moral standards 64 (8) 85 (7) 88 (7) 85 (6) 91 (1) 88 (4) 95 (3) 96 (2)
55
Overview: Overall, education makes a difference in only a few areas. College educated Arabs
appear to have greater concern with the ability of their countries to meet new challenges, while Arabs
with a secondary education or less show greater concern with the rights of the Palestinian people.
As in the other cases under study here, more substantial differences occur when the impact of
education is weighed on a country-by-country basis.
By Country: College educated Lebanese are more concerned with civil rights, the ability of their
country to meet new challenges and the rights of Palestinians than their secondary school educated
compatriots. Lebanese without a college degree, on the other hand, are more focused on their personal
economic situation and the general issue of Palestine.
College educated Jordanians say they are more concerned with Palestine, health care and their
economic situation. Secondary school educated Jordanians are more focused on rights issues and moral
standards.
Kuwaitis with a secondary education give higher rankings to Palestine-related issues, while their
college educated compatriots place concern with moral standards and their personal economic situation at
the top.
Overall Arabs in the UAE with college degrees offer lower scores to all of the issues under
consideration. Those without a college degree are substantially more likely to zero in on the economy of
the country and the general Arab situation.
College educated Moroccans give higher scores to most of the issues under evaluation here. They
also put substantially higher rankings to their concern for civil and political rights and their personal
economic situation. Those without a college degree give higher rankings to Palestine-related issues and
to concern with the economy of the country.
56
As in the UAE, Saudis with a college education provide lower scores to all of the issues under
examination here. Secondary school educated Saudis, on the other hand, place a higher priority on health
care and the economy of the country. College educated Saudis rank the issue of their personal economic
situation more highly.
College educated Egyptians put a slightly greater priority on the issues of civil rights and health
care, while their secondary educated compatriots give greater weight to concern over moral standards and
their personal economic situation.
Education appears to play only a slight role in shaping the political priorities of Arabs in Israel.
***
4. By Internet Access
Table XVIII shows how the ratings and rankings given to each of these political issues differed
when we compared them by the Internet access of our respondents.
Table XVIII. Importance of Issues by Internet Access (% rating and ranking) Importance (4+5) Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
Internet access... Internet access... Internet access... Internet access...
Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No
The issue of Palestine 71 (8) 68 (6) 83 (3) 85 (5) 87 (6) 95 (4) 90 (5) 94 (1)
The rights of the Palestinian people
73 (7) 64 (8) 83 (3) 90 (2) 79 (8) 93 (5) 92 (3) 94 (1)
Your civil and personal rights
92 (1) 90 (3) 91 (1) 91 (1) 95 (3) 96 (3) 95 (1) 94 (1)
The general Arab situation 64 (9) 55 (9) 61 (8) 69 (9) 78 (9) 83 (8) 56 (9) 58 (8)
Relations with non-Arab countries
57 (10) 44 (10) 38 (10) 51 (10) 55 (10) 52 (10) 42 (10) 42 (10)
Health care 88 (3) 94 (1) 80 (6) 90 (2) 97 (1) 100 (1) 91 (4) 91 (5)
Your personal economic situation
85 (5) 93 (2) 84 (2) 76 (6) 94 (4) 87 (7) 93 (2) 93 (4)
The economy of your country
88 (3) 85 (5) 67 (7) 71 (7) 88 (5) 81 (9) 62 (7) 62 (6)
That your country is changing to meet new challenges
79 (6) 65 (7) 60 (9) 70 (8) 85 (7) 91 (6) 60 (8)
53 (9)
Moral standards 91 (2) 88 (4) 83 (3) 86 (4) 97 (1) 99 (2) 67 (6) 62 (6)
57
Table XVIII. Importance of Issues by Internet Access (cont.)
Importance (4+5) Morocco Saudi Arabia
Egypt Israel
Internet access... Internet access... Internet access... Internet access...
Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No
The issue of Palestine 97 (1) 86 (1) 96 (1) 97 (1) 93 (1) 89 (4) 92 (5) 93 (5)
The rights of the Palestinian people
97 (1) 83 (3) 96 (1) 97 (1) 91 (3) 85 (6) 94 (3) 93 (5)
Your civil and personal rights
96 (3) 84 (2) 96 (1) 93 (5) 93 (1) 92 (2) 100 (1) 94 (3)
The general Arab situation 79 (8) 76 (7) 89 (8) 77 (9) 71 (8) 64 (9) 79 (10) 87 (7)
Relations with non-Arab countries
61 (10) 58 (10) 76 (10) 48 (10) 55 (10) 48 (10) 80 (9) 76 (10)
Health care 96 (3) 78 (5) 95 (4) 95 (4) 85 (6) 93 (1) 99 (2) 97 (1)
Your personal economic situation
93 (5) 78 (5) 95 (4) 96 (3) 89 (4) 86 (5) 92 (5) 94 (3)
The economy of your country
87 (6) 79 (4) 91 (6) 93 (5) 83 (7) 76 (7) 87 (7) 87 (7)
That your country is changing to meet new challenges
63 (9) 65 (9) 84 (9) 79 (8) 70 (9) 67 (8) 82 (8) 85 (9)
Moral standards 81 (7) 73 (8) 90 (7) 87(7) 87 (5) 90 (3) 94 (3) 95 (2)
Overview: In the aggregate, internet use appears to shape Arab attitudes towards a number
of political concerns. Overall, it appears that Arabs with Internet access are more concerned with
their civil and political rights, moral standards, and their personal economic situation.
By Country: Lebanese internet users are more concerned with civil rights, moral standards, the
rights of the Palestinians, the economy of their country and its ability to meet new challenges. Lebanese
without access to the Internet are more focused on health care and their personal economic situation.
Among Jordanians with Internet access, their personal economic situation appears to be a major
concern. Non-internet users are more focused on health care concerns.
Kuwaitis who have access to the Internet give higher priority to both economic concerns. While
those without access give higher priority to Palestine-related issues, the ability of Kuwait to meet new
challenges and the “general Arab situation.”
58
The major difference that internet use seems to have on political attitudes in the UAE is that those
without internet access give greater weight to Palestine-related issues.
Moroccans with internet access give higher ratings to all issues under study here. They also rank
to Palestine-related issues and concern with health care closer to the top.
Saudi internet users also give higher scores to most of the issues under consideration here. They
rank concern with civil rights much higher than the non-internet users. Those without internet access in
Saudi Arabia appear to put greater weight on economic concerns.
Egyptians with internet access give higher rankings to Palestine-related issues. Those without
access give greater weight to economic concerns.
Among the Arabs in Israel only two significant differences occur. Those with internet access are
more concerned with civil and personal rights issues, while those without access place greater weight to
the general Arab situation.
***
59
V. The Mood and Outlook of Arabs Today
A. Overview
It was Ronald Reagan who popularized the question “Are you better off or worse off than you
were four years ago?” During his 1980 U.S. presidential campaign against then-President Jimmy Carter
he repeatedly asked voters to answer that simple question. With the U.S. economy in a deep slump, with
interest rates on home mortgages at an all time high and with the U.S. facing a profound international
crisis in Iran, Reagan knew how voters would respond. In facing this question they would focus on their
fears and concerns and describe their mood.
More than any other, this question and three others that we asked of our Arab respondents in eight
countries present an opportunity to reflect on how they view their current and their future prospects.
The four questions we asked our respondents were:
1) Are you better off or worse off now than you were four years ago?
2) Do you feel that four years from now, your situation will be better off or worse off?
3) Are you better off today or worse off than your parents were at your age?
4) Do you feel that your children will be better off or worse off than you?
The answers to the two four-year questions register short-term changes in mood and outlook. The
responses to the generational questions provide us with their longer-term assessment of their current
situation and their confidence in the future.
The responses from all eight countries are listed below in Table XIX. The numbers indicate
better off or worse off in each category. The responses here are, in themselves, quite interesting and will
be discussed below. But, in the future, it will be useful to ask follow-up questions of each respondent.
60
The responses given here are recorded in percentage form can only tell us how people feel. Further
questioning and study is needed to learn why their moods and outlooks are what they are.
Table XIX. Better Off/Worse Off Better or worse off…
Lebanon Jordan Kuwait Saudi Arabia
UAE Morocco Egypt Israel
Better
Worse
Better
Worse
Better
Worse
Better
Worse
Better
Worse
Better
Worse
Better
Worse
Better
Worse
Than 4 years ago
9 65 28 25 41 18 34 28 56 5 41 9 47 20 27 24
4 years into the future
15 46 34 15 44 19 40 18 66 3 55 2 48 10 22 20
Than parents were
26 49 41 25 56 15 27 26 72 6 39 10 53 18 38 17
Children will be
26 31 42 15 56 13 56 17 67 6 74 1 54 13 53 17
B. Differences by Country
In seven of the eight countries covered in our study, respondents indicate that they are more
or less satisfied with their current situation and solidly optimistic about their longer-term
prospects. The only exception is in Lebanon where responses portray a mood so negative and an
outlook so pessimistic as to be worrisome. Clearly what the Lebanese covered in our survey are saying
is not only that they were not better off than their parents were a generation ago (with 49% saying they
are worse off than their parents, and only 20% saying that they are better off), but that their situation has
significantly worsened in the last four years. Similarly they show little hope that their situation will
improve in the next four years, and they are only somewhat divided regarding their children’s prospects
for a better future.
In Jordan, on the other hand, while respondents are somewhat ambivalent about how they have
fared during the past four years, they are clear about the fact that they are much better off today than their
61
parents’ generation. Jordanians also project a mild optimism about the prospects for improvement in
their short-term situation and are somewhat more positive about longer-term progress.
In Kuwait, Egypt, Morocco and the UAE respondents are uniformly positive in both mood and
outlook. The overall most positive environment, according to the respondents in our study, was in the
UAE, where there is little doubt that real improvement has come to their lives and confidence that this
progress will continue in the short and long term. Moroccans have extraordinarily high expectations both
in the chances that their lives will improve in the next four years and in the prospects that their children’s
lives will be better.
Saudi Arabia’s respondents are confident about the prospects that their lives will be better. At the
same time, Saudi Arabians are split as to whether or not they are better off today than their parent’s
generation.
Arabs in Israel are positive about the progress made in their living circumstances in the last
generation and they are optimistic that in the long term their children will also see a better future. They
are, however, split about whether their lives have become better off or worse off in the past four years,
and they do not appear to be optimistic that they will experience any improvement in the next four years.
***
C. Taking a Closer Look:
The Impact of Age, Gender, Education and Internet Access
In this section we will examine in greater detail the material covered in this chapter. We will
examine each topic more closely looking at how the responses in each value differ when we compare
them not only by country, but by age (those between the ages of 18 and 29, with those over 30), gender
62
(male and female), education (those with a secondary education, with those who have graduated from
college), and internet access (those who have access, and those who do not).
1. By Age
Table XX shows the differences in the degree of satisfaction and the degree of optimism of our
respondents when we compared them by the age.
Table XX. Better Off Economically by Age Better off… Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+
Four years ago 9 9 25 32 38 42 56 56
Four years from now 11 16 35 32 39 47 65 66
Than parents were 28 26 40 50 46 64 64 77
Than children will be 26 26 42 41 40 59 61 72
Table XX. Better Off Economically by Age (cont.)
Better off… Morocco Saudi Arabia Egypt Israel
18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+
Four years ago 41 41 35 34 53 43 30 25
Four years from now 59 52 45 36 47 50 19 24
Than parents were 39 39 28 27 50 56 36 39
Than children will be 73 75 67 48 51 58 48 56
If we describe how our respondents compare their current economic situation (either in the short-
term, 4 years ago, or the long-term, i.e. how their parents fared) as their “degree of satisfaction,” and how
they view their short and long term prospects for the future as their “degree of optimism” – then it is clear
that age plays a significant role in determining both the satisfaction and optimism in six of the eight
countries covered in our study.
Overall, for example, older Arabs in Jordan, Kuwait, UAE, Egypt and Israel appear to be
more satisfied and more optimistic.
63
Only in Saudi Arabia do we find that the young appear to be more satisfied and more optimistic
than their older compatriots.
Age does not appear to play a significant or consistent role in shaping the attitudes and outlook of
Lebanese or Moroccans.
***
2. By Gender
Table XXI shows the differences in the degree of satisfaction and the degree of optimism of our
respondents when we compare them by gender.
Table XXI. Better Off Economically by Gender Better off… Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Four years ago 9 8 28 29 41 40 59 51
Four years from now 15 14 36 30 48 39 70 59
Than parents were 24 29 46 35 59 52 74 67
Than children will be 26 27 41 44 55 48 68 66
Table XXI. Better off Economically by Gender (cont.)
Better off… Morocco Saudi Arabia Egypt Israel
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Four years ago 35 47 22 46 48 45 26 28
Four years from now 51 60 32 47 48 48 21 23
Than parents were 41 36 22 33 48 57 37 39
Than children will be 73 76 37 73 50 57 53 53
In Kuwait and the UAE male respondents are more satisfied and optimistic, while Saudi Arabia
and, to some degree Egypt, it appears that it is women who are more satisfied with their current economic
status and their economic outlook for the future. In Jordan, Israel, and Morocco, results are mixed.
Gender in these cases does not appear to play a decisive or measurable role.
64
3. By Education
Table XXII shows the differences in the degree of satisfaction and the degree of optimism of our
respondents when we compare them by their educational levels.
Table XXII. Better Off Economically by Education Better off… Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Four years ago 11 8 24 30 27 45 36 57
Four years from now 18 12 31 35 54 41 71 66
Than parents were 26 27 34 45 62 54 57 72
Than children will be 37 19 46 40 56 51 50 68
Table XXII. Better Off Economically by Education (cont.)
Better off… Morocco Saudi Arabia Egypt Israel
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Four years ago 42 41 40 30 44 49 26 48
Four years from now 40 65 41 40 43 48 22 30
Than parents were 28 45 25 29 57 47 39 33
Than children will be 70 77 64 49 54 51 54 44
Education plays a mixed role in shaping the degree of satisfaction and optimism in the eight
countries covered in our study. In Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia those with college degrees
appear to be less satisfied and less optimistic. In the UAE and Morocco, on the other hand, those with
more education appear to be more satisfied and more optimistic about the future.
In Egypt and Israel the results are mixed.
***
65
4. By Internet Access
Table XXIII shows the differences in the degree of satisfaction and the degree of optimism of our
respondents when we compare them by whether or not they have Internet Access.
Table XXIII. Better Off Economically by Internet Access Better off… Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
Internet access... Internet access... Internet access... Internet access...
Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No
Four years ago 6 10 30 25 37 47 59 43
Four years from now 10 17 34 33 44 42 67 62
Than parents were 24 28 40 43 59 54 72 70
Than children will be 20 30 43 43 50 54 69 59
Table XXIII. Better Off Economically by Internet Access (cont.)
Better off… Morocco Saudi Arabia Egypt Israel
Internet access... Internet access... Internet access... Internet access...
Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No
Four years ago 44 39 33 39 51 46 26 28
Four years from now 68 44 34 52 44 50 21 23
Than parents were 40 37 26 31 47 56 39 38
Than children will be 82 67 52 66 48 58 48 55
Somewhat similar to the impact of education, internet access shapes satisfaction and optimism in
seven of the eight countries covered in our study. In Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and among
the Arabs in Israel, those with access appear to be somewhat less satisfied with their economic
circumstances and less hopeful about the future than those without internet access.
In the UAE and Morocco, on the other hand, those with Internet access appear to be more
satisfied and more optimistic.
***
66
VI. How Arabs Define Themselves
A. Overview
How contemporary Arabs define themselves is a frequently discussed topic. Given the history of
the Arab world, especially in the past century, there are, in each country, a variety of competing sources
of identity.
In an effort to better understand how Arabs, in each of the countries covered in our study, defined
their identity, we asked a series of questions.
1. How Arabs Define Themselves to Arabs from Other Arab Countries
In the first instance we created a setting and asked each respondent the following questions:
“You are having a conversation with someone from another Arab country. Using the scale of one
to five, with one being not at all important and five being very important, please tell me how important
each of the following is in defining who you are to another Arab?”
The six possible sources of identity we asked them to grade in terms of importance were: family;
the city or region where you live; your country; your religion; being an Arab; and the social background
of your family. The results given by the respondents in each of the eight countries in this study are found
in Table XXIV. As in the previous tables, the percentages given reflect percentage of those respondents,
in each country who gave a four or five to teach of the potential sources of identity. The bold number in
parentheses indicates the rank order of the sources of identity in the country in question.
67
Table XXIV. Importance in Defining Yourself to Another Arab (% rating and ranking)
Importance (4+5) Lebano
n Jordan Kuwait
Saudi Arabia
UAE Morocc
o Egypt Israel
Family 32 (6) 55 (5) 43 (6) 58 (3) 25 (6) 51 (6) 27 (6) 84 (5)
City/Region 54 (4) 50 (6) 46 (5) 46 (6) 27 (5) 58 (4) 38 (4) 90 (3)
Country 84 (1) 65 (3) 63 (3) 57 (4) 42 (3) 74 (3) 70 (3) 79 (6)
Religion 64 (3) 71 (2) 64 (2) 83 (2) 50 (2) 92 (1) 83 (2) 92 (2)
Being Arab 79 (2) 74 (1) 78 (1) 86 (1) 60 (1) 92 (1) 84 (1) 95 (1)
Social background of family
39 (5) 61 (4) 54 (4) 53 (5) 32 (4) 52 (5) 37 (5) 90 (3)
Following this, we asked respondents to rank these potential sources of identity in the order of
importance, to them personally. The question we asked was:
“With regard to each of the following (family, the city or region where you live, the country in
which you live, your religion, being Arab, the social background of your family) which is the most
important to you defining your identity to a fellow Arab?”
The results to this question are found in Table XXV (listing the top three responses given).
Table XXV. Importance in Defining Your Identity to Another Arab Most Important
Lebanon Jordan Kuwait Saudi Arabia
UAE Morocco Egypt Israel
Arab 32 24 31 42 46 36 31 29
Country 31 24 19 13 9 15 26 17
Religion 20 13 15 18 16 34 29 36
In seven of the eight countries covered in our study, “being Arab” proves to be the most
frequently cited source of identity. Only in Lebanon, does the country of the respondent score
higher. While the religion of the respondents is a close second in all other cases, in Morocco it ranks
equal with being Arab as their source of identity when relating to a fellow Arab from another country.
However, when asked to actually rank the importance of those competing sources of identity,
some differences in their ordering appear. In Table XXV above, “being Arab” ranks first in Lebanon,
68
slightly edging out country. In Jordan, being Arab and Jordanian rank equally high. In Kuwait, “being
Arab” ranks highest, followed by the respondents’ preference for defining themselves as “Kuwaiti”. In
Saudi Arabia and in the UAE, “being Arab” is, by far, the preferred source of self-identification in intra-
Arab conversation.
In Morocco and Egypt, respondents also gave “being Arab” as their preferred self-identification,
but that choice was closely followed by religion. Only among Arabs in Israel did religion become the
highest ranked source of identity in intra-Arab circles.
***
2. How Arabs Define Themselves to Americans
We established a different situation — a conversation with an American. We then asked our
respondents to use the same potential sources of identification, and to grade their relative importance in
this new situation. The specific question we asked was:
Now, suppose you are talking with someone from the United States. Using the same scale of one to
five, with one being not at all important and five being very important, and the same list, please tell me
how important each of the following is in defining who you are to that American?
The results to this question, using the same method of calculating 4’s and 5’s, are found in Table
XXVI.
Table XXVI. Importance in Defining Yourself to an American (% rating and ranking)
Importance (4+5) Lebano
n Jordan Kuwait
Saudi Arabia
UAE Morocc
o Egypt Israel
Family 23 (6) 45 (6) 29 (6) 33 (6) 11 (6) 42 (6) 24 (6) 84 (3)
City/Region 39 (4) 46 (5) 34 (5) 35 (5) 21 (4) 52 (4) 34 (4) 82 (5)
Country 84 (1) 67 (3) 47 (3) 46 (4) 38 (3) 77 (3) 71 (3) 84 (3)
Religion 45 (3) 72 (1) 53 (2) 77 (2) 48 (2) 93 (1) 83 (2) 87 (2)
Being Arab 61 (2) 70 (2) 77 (1) 85 (1) 61 (1) 93 (1) 85 (1) 91 (1)
Social background of family
29 (5) 52 (4) 45 (4) 49 (3) 19 (5) 48 (5) 30 (5) 79 (6)
69
Once again, in this case, only in the instance of Lebanon, did our respondents choose to give
more importance to their country as a source of self-identity. In the case of Jordan, our respondents
indicate that when relating to an American their religion takes on more significance. In all of the other
countries covered in this study, “being Arab” ranked highest, followed by religion, except in Morocco,
where both sources of identification received identical scores.
Following that, we asked each respondent to rank these same sources of identity in their order of
importance, as they use them in defining themselves to an American. The question asked was:
“Of each of the following (family, the city or region where you live, the country in
which you live, your religion, being Arab, the social background of your family),
which is the most important to you in defining your identity to someone from the
United States?”
The results to this question are found in Table XXVII (again listing only the top three choices).
Table XXVII. Importance in Defining Your Identity to an American Most Important
Lebanon Jordan Kuwait Saudi Arabia
UAE Morocco Egypt Israel
Being Arab 30 30 42 59 58 26 40 34
Country 42 19 20 6 8 7 25 14
Religion 16 20 18 22 18 53 26 28
When asked to rank these sources of identification in order of importance when relating to an
American, our respondents once again, choose “being Arab” by fairly large majorities. The notable
exceptions to this general tendency are the responses given in Lebanon and Morocco. In Lebanon,
“being Lebanese” receives a large score, followed by “being Arab,” with religion a distant third. On the
other hand, Morocco was the only country where the preferred source of identity was overwhelmingly
70
“religion,” with that source of identification ranked two times more important than “being Arab” in the
setting described.
3. Summary
Some general observations regarding the Arab identity can be made from a comparison of the
results of the two settings described above.
In the case of Lebanon, whether relating to a fellow Arab or an American, about one-third of the
Lebanese respondents define themselves as “being Arab” when relating to an American, however, more
Lebanese prefer to define themselves by their country. In all cases, the Lebanese, more than any of the
other Arab groups covered in our study, display the strongest identification with their country. It is
interesting to note that while religious sect plays such an important role in internal Lebanese
affairs, religion, as such, is not a strong source of identity used by Lebanese in their relations either
with fellow Arabs or Americans.
Jordanians on the other hand, display some ambivalence in how they define themselves in each of
the two scenarios created for our study. In neither case is dominant weight given to any of the top three
choices. While “being Arab” ranks first in each instance, it is not by a large margin.
In dealings with fellow Arabs, Kuwaitis and Egyptians also show some ambivalence, with only
one-third preferring self-identification of “being Arab”. But the “Arab” identity increases somewhat
when relating to Americans.
In both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, “being Arab” is, by far and away, the most important
form of self-identification in both their dealings with other Arabs or with Americans. In each case,
the Arab identity is significantly stronger than any of the other choices and the strongest of all of the
other countries included in our study. Conversely, in both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the identity
71
that the respondents claim to derive from “the country they live in” is the lowest of all our groups
in question.
As has been noted above, Moroccans give higher priority to their religious identification,
especially when relating to Americans. Overall, the importance of country in defining the self-identity of
our Moroccan respondents places a distant third behind religion and “being Arab”.
The ambivalence Israeli Arabs have with conflicting sources of identity can clearly be seen form
the different ways they related their identity to other Arabs and Americans. When relating to fellow
Arabs from other countries, Arabs from Israel indicate a slight preference for their religious identity over
“being Arab”. On the other hand, when relating to an American, they flip the rank order of these two
preferences. In both cases, “the country they are from” ranks third.
***
B. Taking A Closer Look
The Impact of Age, Gender, Education and Internet By Age
In this section we will examine in greater detail the material covered in this chapter. We will
examine each topic more closely looking at how the responses in each area differ when we compare them
not only by country, but by age (those between the ages of 18 and 29, with those over 30), gender (male
and female), education (those with a secondary education, with those who have graduated from college),
and internet access (those who have access, and those who do not).
1. Arab to Arab
a. By Age
72
Table XXVIII shows how the ratings and rankings given to each of these sources of identity
differed when we compared them by the age of our respondents.
Table XXVIII. Importance in Defining Yourself to Another Arab by Age
Age appears to play a role in shaping the self-identity of respondents in most of the nations
covered in our survey. For example, in five of the eight countries older respondents indicate that
“being Arab” was more important to them as a self-identifier than it was to younger respondents.
This was especially the case in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait where there is a significant gap in the responses
given by young and old Saudis and Kuwaitis. The opposite is the case among Arabs in Israel. There it is
younger respondents who, by a wide margin, prefer the “Arab” identifier.
Older Lebanese and Jordanians are more inclined to define themselves by the country of their
citizenship. This is also true for younger Kuwaitis.
In Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt younger respondents are more inclined to define themselves
by their religion than are older respondents.
Most important Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+
Being Arab 28 34 25 24 24 36 43 49
Family 9 6 18 10 3 20 11 4
Your city or region 7 7 10 12 7 5 2 1
Your country 27 33 22 33 30 13 10 8
The social background of your family 1 4 6 5 7 6 5 6
Your religion 28 17 12 15 12 17 19 14
Table XXVIII. Importance in Defining Yourself to Another Arab by Age (cont.)
Most important Morocco Saudi Arabia Egypt Israel
18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+
Being Arab 38 34 30 49 28 34 38 24
Family 7 3 13 9 3 3 5 5
Your city or region 4 7 8 8 3 3 8 10
Your country 14 16 10 15 25 29 13 19
The social background of your family 1 2 11 5 2 2 1 2
Your religion 34 34 25 13 33 24 35 37
73
It is also worth noting that in Kuwait, among older respondents, “family” ranks second as a
preferred identifier. This category ranks 6th
among younger Kuwaitis. “Family” also ranks high as a
source of identification among younger Jordanians, where it is the choice of almost one of five.
***
b. By Gender
Table XXVIX shows how the ratings given to each of these sources of identity differed when we
compared them by the gender of our respondents.
Table XXVIX. Importance in Defining Yourself to Another Arab by Gender
Most important Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Being Arab 37 28 28 20 27 36 47 45
Family 6 8 12 20 16 9 5 9
Your city or region 5 8 14 12 7 4 1 2
Your country 27 36 25 23 16 24 7 11
The social background of your family 4 2 5 4 6 8 5 7
Your religion 22 18 14 12 20 7 16 16
Table XXVIX. Importance in Defining Yourself to Another Arab by Gender (cont.)
Most important Morocco Saudi Arabia Egypt Israel
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Being Arab 34 38 31 52 31 30 26 33
Family 3 7 10 11 3 4 5 5
Your city or region 5 6 15 2 5 2 8 11
Your country 18 12 22 5 20 30 18 15
The social background of your family 1 2 4 10 2 2 1 1
Your religion 36 32 15 20 32 27 40 32
Gender also plays a significant role in self-identity, and, here too, the weight varies from country
to country. For example, it is Saudi and Kuwaiti women who prefer to define themselves as Arabs.
Men in Lebanon lean toward defining themselves as Arab, while Lebanese women prefer to
describe themselves as Lebanese.
Only among the Arabs in Israel and the Kuwaitis does a gender gap appear with regard to self-
identification by religion. Two of five Israeli Arab men define themselves by their religious affiliation,
74
while only one-third of Israeli Arab women do so. In Kuwait, religious affiliation ranks fifth as a self-
definition among women, the lowest ranking this receives anywhere in our study. Among Kuwaiti men,
religion is the second favored form of self-identification.
***
c. By Education
Table XXX shows how the ratings given to each of these sources of identity differed when we
compared them by the educational levels of our respondents.
Table XXX. Importance in Defining Yourself to Another Arab by Education
Most important
Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Being Arab 32 33 24 25 29 31 71 45
Family 11 4 14 17 20 11 :: 7
Your city or region 7 7 23 6 :: 8 :: 1
Your country 23 37 25 23 11 22 14 9
The social background of your family 1 4 3 6 12 5 6
Your religion 26 16 3 19 17 14 7 17
Table XXX. Importance in Defining Yourself to Another Arab by Education (cont.)
Most important
Morocco Saudi Arabia Egypt Israel
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Being Arab 39 34 50 35 33 30 29 37
Family 9 3 9 12 5 3 5 4
Your city or region 6 6 5 10 4 3 11 ::
Your country 8 20 10 15 21 28 17 7
The social background of your family 3 1 10 5 1 3 1 4
Your religion 32 34 17 19 30 28 34 48
The educational level achieved by our respondents has a significant impact on self-identification
in only a few instances.
In Saudi Arabia and UAE, those with less education overwhelmingly prefer to describe
themselves as “being Arab,” while those with a college degree, while still largely favoring an “Arab”
self-identification, give other more diversified responses as well.
75
In Lebanon, Kuwait, and Egypt, it is the college educated who show greater preference for
describing themselves by their country of citizenship. Kuwaitis without a college education lean more
towards defining themselves by their family.
Among Arabs in Israel one-half of those with a college degree prefer to describe themselves by
their religious affiliation. In Lebanon it is those without a college degree who lean toward the religious
identification.
***
d. By Internet Access
Table XXXI shows how the ratings given to each of these sources of identity differed when we
compared them by Internet access.
Table XXXI. Importance in Defining Yourself to Another Arab by Internet Access
Most important Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
Internet access... Internet access... Internet access... Internet access... Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No
Being Arab 29 34 24 26 24 41 45 53
Family 11 5 20 10 12 12 7 4
Your city or region 10 5 11 15 7 1 1 ::
Your country 33 30 26 22 19 20 9 8
The social background of your family 2 4 6 3 6 10 6 4
Your religion 16 22 10 18 20 9 17 13 Table XXXI. Importance in Defining Yourself to Another Arab by Internet Access (cont.)
Most important Morocco Saudi Arabia Egypt Israel
Internet access... Internet access... Internet access... Internet access... Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No
Being Arab 30 41 44 41 38 29 37 27
Family 5 5 9 15 2 4 4 6
Your city or region 7 4 8 6 2 3 15 7
Your country 23 8 13 9 21 27 12 18
The social background of your family 2 2 8 7 4 2 1 1
Your religion 34 34 16 23 28 30 29 39
Access to the internet plays a very limited role in shaping self-definition in five countries. In
Kuwait, UAE and Morocco those without access lean more toward describing themselves as “Arab,”
76
while in Egypt and Israel, those without Internet access lean more toward describing themselves by their
religious affiliation.
***
2. Arab to American
a. By Age
Table XXXII shows how the ratings given to each of these sources of identity differed when we
compared them by the age of our respondents.
Table XXXII. Importance in Defining Yourself to an American by Age
Most Important Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+
Being Arab 27 30 28 34 56 33 50 64
Family 1 6 16 2 4 7 2 1
The city or region where you live 5 4 9 13 3 3 1 1
The country in which you live 51 39 18 23 9 28 14 3
The social background of your family 2 2 4 5 1 3 2 3
Your religion 12 17 15 20 11 22 20 17
Table XXXII. Importance in Defining Yourself to an American by Age (cont.)
Most Important Morocco Saudi Arabia Egypt Israel
18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+ 18-29 30+
Being Arab 24 28 51 64 35 44 40 30
Family 10 2 4 4 2 0 8 6
The city or region where you live 1 5 3 6 2 2 17 16
The country in which you live 7 8 4 8 22 28 12 16
The social background of your family 2 3 2 4 2 1 1 1
Your religion 54 53 35 14 33 21 22 32
When dealing with an American, older Saudis, Arabs in the Emirates, and Egyptians
strongly favor defining themselves as Arabs. The reverse is true in Kuwait and in Israel where it is the
younger respondents who lean more toward an Arab self-identification.
In the same circumstance of talking to an American, younger Lebanese and Arabs in the Emirates
lean more toward defining themselves by their country of citizenship, while one-third of young Saudis
and Egyptians use religion as their preferred self-definition.
77
***
b. By Gender
Table XXXIII shows how the ratings given to each of these sources of identity differed when we
compared them by the gender of our respondents.
Table XXXIII. Importance in Defining Yourself to an American by Gender
Most Important Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Being Arab 32 27 35 25 33 58 61 53
Family 5 4 7 12 6 5 1 2
The city or region where you live 2 6 14 10 4 1 1 1
The country in which you live 39 46 20 18 22 17 5 13
The social background of your family 2 2 5 3 4 2 4 ::
Your religion 17 14 16 25 22 10 16 22 Table XXXIII. Importance in Defining Yourself to an American by Gender (cont.)
Most Important Morocco Saudi Arabia Egypt Israel
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Being Arab 23 31 59 59 42 38 31 37
Family 6 6 4 4 2 1 6 8
The city or region where you live 5 1 8 2 3 1 15 17
The country in which you live 8 7 6 7 20 29 18 10
The social background of your family 2 3 4 2 1 2 1 1
Your religion 54 53 17 27 27 26 29 27
In the setting described in this section, gender plays a role in shaping self-identification in six of
the eight countries covered in our study.
In the UAE and Jordan men favor describing themselves as Arab, while in Kuwait and Morocco it
is women who more strongly prefer to define themselves as Arabs.
Religious self-definition increases among Saudi and Jordanian women and among Kuwaiti men.
Gender also plays a role among Lebanese and Egyptian women who lean more strongly
toward defining themselves by their country of citizenship.
***
78
c. By Education
Table XXXIV shows how the ratings given to each of these sources of identity differed when we
compared them by the educational levels of our respondents.
Table XXXIV. Importance in Defining Yourself to an American by Education
Most Important
Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Being Arab 33 27 29 31 22 49 79 57
Family 4 4 6 12 6 5 :: 1
The city or region where you live :: 7 18 8 2 4 :: 1
The country in which you live 37 46 22 17 25 18 :: 8
The social background of your family 3 2 4 5 4 2 :: 3
Your religion 22 12 13 23 28 14 7 18
Table 3. Most important aspect in defining your identity to an American by education (cont.)
Most Important
Morocco Saudi Arabia Egypt Israel
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Secondary or less
College or more
Being Arab 34 22 49 65 46 38 32 56
Family 11 3 3 4 1 1 7 4
The city or region where you live 6 2 5 4 :: 3 18 4
The country in which you live 4 10 8 6 20 26 14 11
The social background of your family 2 2 5 2 3 1 0 4
Your religion 41 61 30 18 26 26 27 22
Education plays a role in shaping the self-definition of our respondents in almost all of the
countries covered in our study. In UAE and Israel, those with a college degree more strongly favor
describing themselves as Arab. The opposite was true in Egypt.
Self-identification by country increases in Lebanon among those with a college education. And
college education creates a significant increase in religious identification among Moroccans. This is also
the case, only somewhat less so among Jordanians and Arabs in the Emirates. The opposite holds true in
Lebanon, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia where college education somewhat reduces the role of religious
affiliation as a self-identifier.
Only in Lebanon is there a significant increase in the use of country as a self-identifier among
those with a college degree.
79
d. By Internet Access
Table XXXV shows how the ratings given to each of these sources of identity differed when we
compared those of our respondents with Internet access.
Table XXXV. Importance in Defining Yourself to an American by Internet Access
Most important Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE
Internet access... Internet access... Internet access... Internet access... Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No
Being Arab 34 27 27 35 35 48 58 57
Family 3 5 14 4 7 5 1 2
The city or region where you live 5 3 14 9 3 3 1 ::
The country in which you live 50 38 20 19 21 21 8 8
The social background of your family 1 3 4 4 3 3 2 8
Your religion 5 21 16 26 18 18 19 15 Table XXXV. Importance in Defining Yourself to an American by Internet Access (cont.)
Most important Morocco Saudi Arabia Egypt Israel
Internet access... Internet access... Internet access... Internet access... Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No
Being Arab 17 36 62 57 38 41 39 32
Family 6 6 5 2 3 0 4 8
The city or region where you live 2 4 4 2 2 2 24 13
The country in which you live 7 7 3 11 24 26 11 16
The social background of your family 1 4 3 3 1 2 :: 1
Your religion 67 40 22 25 27 26 24 30
Once again, internet access plays only a limited role in shaping self-definition. In Lebanon those
with access have stronger country identification and a greatly reduced tendency to describe themselves by
religious affiliation.
In Morocco and Kuwait, those without access have a stronger Arab identification. It is also
interesting to note that in Morocco, two-thirds of those with internet access prefer to define themselves
by their religious affiliation. Internet access, on the other hand, somewhat reduces religious self-
identification among Jordanians.
***
80
VII. How Arabs View the World
Frequently, Americans are asked by public opinion pollsters to give their evaluations of other
countries in the world. Most often, respondents are asked whether they have a favorable or unfavorable
attitude toward these other nations. Over time, trend lines can be drawn showing how attitudes change
toward particular countries.
To the best of our knowledge, no such systematic effort has ever before been made to determine
how Arab public opinion feels about other countries in the world. And so utilizing the same
methodology and approach we utilize in surveying US public opinion, we asked our Arab respondents
from eight countries to describe their attitudes, both favorable and unfavorable, toward thirteen other
countries from different parts of the world.
The specific question asked of our respondents was worded as follows:
“I will read you a list of countries. Please tell me if your overall impression of each is either very
favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, or very unfavorable, or if you are not familiar
enough to form a judgment.”
We then grouped together the “very favorable” and “somewhat favorable” percentages to provide
us with an overall “favorable” percentage and the “somewhat unfavorable” and “very unfavorable”
percentages to provide us with an overall “unfavorable” percentage. The results of our tallies recording
the favorable and unfavorable attitudes toward the thirteen countries covered in our study are recorded
below in Table XXXVI.
81
Table XXXVI. How Arabs View Other Countries
Lebanon Jordan Kuwait Saudi Arabia
UAE Morocco Egypt Israel
Fav Unfav
Fav Unfav
Fav Unfav
Fav Unfav
Fav Unfav
Fav Unfav
Fav Unfav
Fav Unfav
Russia 62 28 44 38 33 61 51 43 13 69 28 66 37 36 20 64
China 60 29 56 27 38 53 71 23 21 61 55 43 60 20 23 59
USA 26 70 34 61 41 48 12 87 11 87 38 61 15 76 16 78
France 69 17 56 33 63 35 50 46 53 39 77 23 56 26 50 40
India 51 35 40 42 36 56 54 41 25 61 48 48 34 45 20 61
Israel 5 91 5 89 2 97 3 97 2 95 8 90 8 82 16 78
Pakistan 40 49 49 33 55 39 61 36 29 58 44 51 47 32 28 58
Iran 61 34 59 28 79 18 66 31 38 54 55 41 55 24 32 55
Japan 64 27 53 29 71 25 59 10 27 55 63 33 64 17 33 50
Turkey 30 52 42 40 42 49 28 64 11 75 52 42 36 42 35 53
Germany 67 27 45 35 57 35 37 51 23 64 68 31 49 26 25 59
Canada 73 22 44 34 60 34 46 43 24 62 60 36 37 34 22 59
UK 42 53 34 59 48 50 18 81 18 75 40 57 30 40 15 54
***
82
A. Some Observations About the Countries Under Evaluation
Of all the countries covered in the poll only France receives a consistently net positive rating
from respondents in all eight countries. France’s best favorable to unfavorable ratio comes from
Morocco and Lebanon, while its poorest showing is still a net positive score in Saudi Arabia.
Canada, Japan, and Iran receive positive favorability ratings from respondents in six of the eight
countries we surveyed, while China and Germany were viewed positively in five of the eight.
It might be surprising to some to note that Iran receives very high favorable ratings in Kuwait and
Saudi Arabia, and also records high positive ratings in Lebanon and Egypt.
At the other end of the continuum, Israel receives the lowest favorability score of any of the
thirteen countries covered in our study, only breaking out of single digit favorability ratings among its
own Arab citizens. This community gives Israel only a 16% favorability rating. In no other country
does that state score higher than 8%.
Also receiving net negative scores from respondents in all eight countries are the U.S. and
the United Kingdom. The favorability ratio given to the U.S. is significantly lower than that given to
the U.K., and was especially low in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and UAE and among the Arabs in Israel. (It is
interesting, for comparison purposes, to contrast the very negative attitudes of the Arab respondents to
these two English speaking countries with more positive Arab attitudes toward Canada).
Turkey also does quite poorly in our study, receiving only slightly net positive ratings in two of
the eight countries surveyed.
***
83
B. Observations About the Arab Respondents
Overall, Jordanians seem to be the most favorably inclined toward the countries covered in our
study. They grant positive favorability ratings to nine of the thirteen countries under evaluation, although
none receive exceptionally high positive percentages.
While Lebanese only rate eight countries favorably, the favorability scores they offer to those
countries are among the highest of all of those given by Arab respondents in our study. The Lebanese
give six countries greater than a 60% favorability rating, with five of these six receiving a greater than
two to one favorability ratio.
Other Arab countries expressing far more positive then negative feelings toward countries
covered in our study were Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Only Arabs surveyed in the UAE and in Israel are mostly negative in their ratings of the countries
we evaluated. In both situations, respondents give a net positive rating only to France.
***
Clearly the responses in this section point to an Arab concern with the U.S. and Israel. It is
not, as some might hasten to construe, an anti-Western sentiment at work, since France and
Canada, both Western countries, are among the countries receiving the highest favorability
ratings. Germany also receives strong positive scores from most Arab respondents.
As we found in an earlier study conducted by Zogby International in April of 2002, Arab
unfavorable attitudes towards the U.S. are a function of U.S. policy toward the Arab world. In that study
which we called “Impressions of America,” we found that although Arabs who were polled in five Arab
countries (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon and UAE) had strong favorable attitudes toward
American “Science and Technology,” “Freedom and Democracy,” “Education,” “Movies and
84
Television,” and also had largely favorable attitudes toward the American people. However, they had
extremely negative attitudes toward U.S. policy vis-à-vis the Arab world, Iraq, and most especially
toward Palestine.
In Table XXXVII, we provide for comparison just two of the sets of the results derived from the
April “Impressions of America” poll. While only five Arab nations were surveyed in that study, the
results do indicate the degree to which there is a deep gap between Arab attitudes toward “American
Freedom and Democracy” on the one hand, and “American Policy Toward the Arab Nations” on the
other.
85
Table XXXVII. Impressions of America: Comparison of Arab Attitudes Toward American
Freedom and Democracy, and American Policy Toward Arab Nations
Favorability towards U.S. Freedom and Democracy and U.S. Arab Policy
53
58 58
5250
4 5
9 8
15
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Egypt Kuwait Lebanon Saudi Arabia U.A.E.
Arab
Percent Favorabletowards AmericanFreedom andDemocracy
Percent Favorabletowards US ArabPolicy
With the above poll finding that Arabs display favorable attitudes toward many manifestations of
America in their midst, including American-made products, science and technology, movies and
television, etc., --it is clear that what drives down Arab attitudes towards “America” is quite simply the
U.S.’ policy in the region.
***
86
VIII. Activities and Attitudes
Also included in our survey were questions that sought to measure the range of non-work related
activity in which Arabs engage. We also sought to determine attitudes about a number of critical issues
including: the prospects for peace, protecting the environment, and improving the rights of women.
A. Participation in Activities
We asked our respondents whether they were very active, somewhat active or not active at all in
four different types of non-work related activities. These included: cultural activities, charity work,
religious practices, politics and current events, and sports. Overall the most commonly pursued
activities appeared to be religious practices and charity work. It is also important to note that
politics and sports rank last in most countries.
Table XXXVIII below gives the results of our eight-country survey. The percentage reported as
“active” includes both responses “very active” and “somewhat active.”
87
Table XXXVIII Participation in Non-Work Related Activities Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE Morocco Saudi Egypt Israel
Active
Not Active
Active Not Active
Active Not Active
Active Not Active
Active Not Active
Active Not Active
Active Not Active
Active Not Active
Cultural activities
77 23 69 26 56 43 44 55 87 13 79 18 53 37 59 40
Charity work
78 22 68 29 80 20 65 34 92 7 85 13 61 30 77 23
Religious practice
78 22 76 21 83 16 61 37 97 2 88 11 81 12 57 41
Politics, current events
74 26 58 36 61 38 46 52 82 17 78 19 56 34 48 50
Sports 66 33 69 28 60 39 59 38 88 12 75 22 52 41 37 61
In six of the eight countries, participation in religious activities ranks highest. In seven of the
eight, involvement in charity work ranks first or second. The notable exceptions occur in Jordan, and
among the Arabs in Israel.
Participation in politics and sports appears to be quite low in most countries. Only in Kuwait and
Egypt do respondents indicate a high degree of engagement in politics and current events. And only in
Jordan and Morocco do Arabs appear to be significantly engaged in sports. In those countries almost two
in five say that they are “very active” in sports.
B. Likelihood of Peace
Despite the fact that this poll was completed in the midst of a difficult period (April through May
of 2002), while Israel's assault into the West Bank was at its peak, nevertheless the majority of Arabs
appear confident that there will be regional peace within the next five years. Almost two-thirds of
Moroccans, Kuwaitis, Jordanians, and Arabs in Israel agree with this proposition. Although somewhat
88
less hopeful, still more than 50% of Arabs in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE and Lebanon also feel that peace
is likely.
The strongest negatives are seen in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon where not only more than 40%
stated their belief that peace was not likely, and in a follow-up question respondents from both countries
made clear that their negative expectations were quite firm.
Table XXXIX, below, presents the responses to our question “how likely do you think it is
that there will be peace in the region in the next 5 years?”
Table XXXIX. Peace in 5 Years How likely do you think it is that there will be peace in the region in the next five years?
Country
Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE Morocco Saudi Egypt Israel
V lkly 9 23 20 7 23 17 11 8
S lkly 42 41 50 47 47 40 46 57
N lkly 45 26 23 36 13 42 33 30
NS 4 10 8 10 17 1 10 5
C. Two Other Important Issues: Environment and Women's Rights
The recently released United Nations Development Program document, Arab Human
Development Report 2002, focused on a number of issues of importance. One of them, education, we did
not cover in our study. But the two others, the need to protect the environment and improving the rights
of women, were covered. We asked our respondents the following question:
How important is protecting the environment to you?
We then asked our respondents:
How concerned are you with improving women’s rights?
89
Table XL presents the results of our findings with regard to attitudes toward protecting the
environment. They were asked to grade each of these in order of importance, from 1 to 5, with 1 being
“not important” and 5 meaning “extremely important.” The percentages given indicate the percentage of
those respondents, in each country, who gave this concern a four or five.
Table XL. Protecting the Environment Level of importance
Country
Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE Morocco Saudi Egypt Israel
Total Importance (4&5)
91 69 88 68 88 77 86 93
***
Table XLI presents the results of our findings on Arab attitudes toward improving the rights of
women. They were asked to grade each of these in order of importance, from 1 to 5, with 1 being “not
concerned” and 5 meaning “very concerned.” The percentages given indicate the percentage of those
respondents, in each country, who gave this concern a four or five. Results, here, are given in total and
for comparison, by age, gender, and educational level achieved.
Table XLI. Rights of Women Total concerned (4&5)
Total 18-29 30+ Male Female Secondary or less
College or more
Lebanon 55 57 55 50 59 52 58
Jordan 41 48 43 25 53 34 49
Kuwait 51 54 49 40 54 37 73
UAE 34 43 28 29 34 30 43
Morocco 49 53 45 43 52 21 78
Saudi Arabia 70 72 69 73 68 52 87
Egypt 51 47 54 53 52 44 58
Israel 93 95 92 91 96 91 95
90
Overview
Overall, Arabs appear to be moderately concerned with improving the rights of women, with an
average of 50% in most countries arguing that this is a strong priority. It is interesting to note that the
two countries where this concern is given the highest rating are among Arabs in Israel and Saudi Arabia.
It is also clear that age, gender and education play a significant role in shaping attitudes
towards improving the rights of women, with younger Arabs, women and college-educated Arabs,
more supportive of this notion. The impact of age and education are uniform with younger and college-
educated giving higher ratings in all countries. There are two significant differences with regard to
gender: while women are more strongly supportive of improving women’s rights in six of the eight
countries, in Egypt, the attitudes of men and women are the same. In Saudi Arabia it is notable that
men appear to be more concerned with improving women’s rights.
D. Tradition versus Change
A final attitude question was asked of all of our respondents to measure their preferences with
regard to two values: “tradition” versus “change.”
The exact question that was asked was “What is more important to you – maintaining tradition or
changing with the times?”
91
The responses are found in Table XLII.
Table XLII. Tradition vs. Change What is more important to you – maintaining tradition or changing with the times
Maintaining tradition
Changing with the times
Both the same
Lebanon 28 33 39
Jordan 25 41 31
Kuwait 47 15 37
UAE 27 27 46
Morocco 64 25 10
Saudi 39 29 30
Egypt 41 25 28
Israel 19 27 51
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IX. Mobility and Attachment
A. Travel Experiences
In an effort to learn about the travel experiences and mobility of Arabs today we asked a series of
questions. First we asked all of our respondents: “Have you ever traveled outside of your own country?”
Of those who had traveled to other countries we asked two follow-up questions: “Have you ever traveled
outside the Arab World?” and “Have you or any member of your family ever been to the United States?”
The results give us a sense of the breadth of experience, whether direct or, in the case of family
members, indirect, of other countries and cultures.
The results are found in Table XLIII.
Table XLIII Travel Experiences Have you ever traveled…?
Outside country Outside Arab world To the US*
Yes No Yes No Yes No
Lebanon 50 50 24 25 15 35
Jordan 61 39 39 22 29 32
Kuwait 95 5 57 38 39 57
UAE 97 3 85 11 45 51
Morocco 21 79 12 9 8 13
Saudi 70 30 49 21 40 31
Egypt 28 70 12 16 7 21
Israel 56 43 37 18 9 39
* Asks whether respondent or a family member have traveled to the US
The bottom line is that Arabs are well traveled. With the exception of Moroccans and Egyptians
strong majorities in most Arab states have traveled beyond their own country. Most notable are the UAE
and Kuwait where most respondents have such travel experiences. In the case of the UAE it is important
to recall that a significant percent of those polled in the UAE were Arab expatriates, thus, by definition,
they have already traveled outside of their own country.
93
Also worth noting are the higher numbers of Jordanians, Saudis, Kuwaitis, and Arabs in the UAE
who have some direct or indirect experience with the U.S. In the Jordanian case, this may be due to the
comparatively large number of Jordanians and Palestinians who have emigrated to the U.S. during the
past several decades. In the case of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and UAE it may more likely be the results of
other factors: students, tourism, and business travel.
***
B. Employment and Attachment
Finally we asked all of our respondents two sets of questions to determine how they would feel
about leaving their country or city if they or their children would receive a job that would require such a
move.
Specifically we asked:
“If you were offered a job that would cause you to move away from your city and country, would
you accept the job or turn it down?”
and
“If your child were offered a job that would cause him or her to move away from your city or
country, would you want your child to accept the job or turn it down?”
What can be learned from the answers to these questions are attitudes to mobility, attachment to
one’s city or country or the degree to which the desire or need to improve one’s economic situation
outweighs the desire to remain in a particular setting.
Table XLIV presents the results of responses to both sets of questions.
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Table XLIV. Employment and Attachment If you were offered a job that would cause you to move away from your city and country, would you accept the job or turn it down?
Country
Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE Morocco Saudi Egypt Israel
Accept job
57 44 60 69 66 45 52 91
Turn it down
35 38 36 22 23 50 36 5
NS 8 17 3 10 11 6 13 5
If your child were offered a job that would cause him or her to move away from your city and country, would you want your child to accept the job or turn it down?
Country
Lebanon Jordan Kuwait UAE Morocco Saudi Egypt Israel
Accept job
62 37 49 54 53 43 42 86
Turn it down
18 39 39 27 20 50 42 9
NS 19 24 12 19 27 7 16 5
The most significant responses come from the Arabs in Israel. It appears that despite the
economic and political hardships that they have endured, they continue to maintain an attachment to their
communities and their land. It appears that after more than 50 years of “remaining,” a veritable culture of
“remaining” has developed here.
In most of the other countries, with the exception of Saudi Arabia, majorities would leave if
offered a job that required them to do so. This includes more than two-thirds of respondents in the
UAE and Morocco. Once again it is useful to note that it is the case of the UAE, expatriate workers have
already answered this question by traveling to that country for employment purposes.
Only in Saudi Arabia are their negative majorities in answer to both questions. This appears to
indicate not only a preference to remain in the country, but possibly a belief that economic opportunities
can or should be found within the Kingdom.
95
It is also worth noting that only among the Lebanese respondents would a larger percentage favor
their children leaving their country to accept a job offer. This may be a further reflection of the
pessimistic economic outlook among the Lebanese noticed in Chapter V.
***
96
Chapter X. What Is Most Important About Your
Country?
In an opportunity to give our respondents an opportunity to describe their attitudes toward their
own country we asked each of them an open-ended question:
“What is the most important thing you would want the rest of the world to know about your
country?”
It is, of course, not always easy to answer such a question, since respondents may want to give
more than our response. But what is fascinating is that when one catalogues the totality of the answers
given a pattern begins to emerge that describes in some detail the culture of the attitudes toward and the
characteristics of each of the countries covered in our study.
Another way to make the same observation is to note that while it may be possible to dismiss the
single observation of one Lebanese, Saudi or Egyptian, when collected, the individual views of __
Lebanese, __ Saudis, and __ Egyptians, create a picture of how they describe or feel as a group about
those countries.
Because we received hundreds of different responses we grouped them under topical headings
and present them below in individual country reports. In each case, we present the general topic group
and the individual responses in each category. The overall response given to each general topic is
presented in bold. The percentage given to the individual responses in each category follows its listing.
***
97
A. Lebanon
Land (18.5)
Tourism (8.2); Nice weather (5.4); Beautiful nature (4.9)
Culture and People (36.1)
Civilization (7.9); Culture (2.8); Generosity (1.5); Heritage (13.8); Hospitality
(1.6); Social life (2.7); Freedom (2.7); Peaceful population (3.1)
Government and Politics (27.6)
Political and Israel related (20.2)
Israeli occupation of South Lebanon (3.3); Our fight is resistance not
terrorism (13.9); Stability (3)
Negative political concerns (7.4)
Confessionalism (3.6); Corruption (1.6); Political betrayal (0.6);
Syrian presence (0.7), War (0.9);
Economy (13.4)
Bad economic situation (11.7); Unemployment (0.9); Technological
development (0.5); Reconstruction (0.3)
Unspecified Responses (4.4)
Overview
Despite the negative mood or pessimistic outlook reflected by the majority of Lebanese (see
Chapter V), most of our respondents have a positive attachment to their country, its heritage and
its physical attractiveness.
98
When asked, “What is the most important thing you would want the rest of the world to know
about your country?” nearly two in five of our respondents pointed to the cultural attributes of Lebanon.
Another one in five noted its physical qualities or its tourist attractions.
Political concerns occupy the attention of another one-quarter of the Lebanese responses with
strong emphasis being given to the Israeli occupation of their country.
Lebanon’s economic troubles were the focus of attention of one in eight respondents,
reflecting the importance of this issue for the country.
***
B. Jordan
Land (31.5)
Ajloun Castle (0.7); Akaba (1.4); Al Zarka incinerator (0.3); Archeological
sites (2.2); Civilizations (2.8); Dana Reserve (0.2); Dead Sea (4.2); Jarash (3);
Nice weather (4.2); Petra (4.9); Ram Valley (0.3); Tourism (7.3)
Culture and People (16.5)
Culture (0.3); Generosity of People (4); History of Jordan (4); Hospitality of
population (3); Muslim religion (0.5); Traditions (4.7)
Government and Politics (13.8)
General (11.2)
A country that seeks peace (0.3); Brotherhood with Palestine (0.7);
Democracy (7); Normalization with Israel (0.3); Political situation (2);
Security issues (0.9)
Negative (2.6)
Non-democratic (0.5); Occupied country (0.9); Oppression (1.2)
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Economy (6.2)
Development (2.5); Economic situation (3.7)
Unspecified Responses (32)
Overview
Almost one-third of the Jordanian respondents do not give an answer to the open-ended question
“What is the most important thing you would want the rest of the world to know about your country?”
Of those who do not respond, the most important items that Jordanians wanted to share with the
rest of the world were the positive attributes of the country and its people. Almost one-half of the
respondents focus on these items.
Almost one in three Jordanians speak of either of tourism in general or named specific sites they
wanted the world to know about it. Another one in six address the qualities of the Jordanian people,
their heritage, culture and history.
One in eight mention political concerns, with most of them focusing on positive issues within the
country. Only a few have negative concerns as their top response to share with others.
Economic concerns are mentioned by only a small number and were mostly general in nature.
***
C. Kuwait
Land (24.2)
Tourism (19.5); Nature (4.0); Environment (0.7)
100
Culture and People (19.6)
Civilization (5.9); Co-existence of religions (0.5); Culture (2.3); Generosity
of population (1.4); Heritage (0.4); History (1.1); Importance of religion (2.9);
Social work (2.1); Traditions (3)
Government and Politics (36.7)
Iraq and Peace (25.9)
Iraqi occupation of Kuwait (3.8); Kuwaiti prisoners in Iraq (15.6);
Military situation (0.8); Peace (4.7); Independent country (1)
General (10.8)
Democracy (2); Political situation (2.5); Role of Kuwait in the Arab
world (1.6); Support for the Palestinian cause (3.1); Drug control (0.4);
No rights for women (1.2)
Economy (11.8)
Development (8.9); Economic situation (2.9)
Unspecified Responses (7.7)
Overview
While a substantial number of Kuwaitis mention qualities of their country and the qualities
of its people when asked, “What is the most important thing you would want the rest of the world to
know about your country?” what is most interesting here is the large number who focus on political
concerns.
One in four Kuwaitis want others to know about their country and so tourism is a major response
(almost 20%) given by our respondents. Another one in five speak of the culture, civilization, and
traditions of the people of the country.
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Still, however, scarred by the invasion and occupation of their country and concerns about the
legacy of that trauma, almost 20% of our respondents mentioned this as the number one issue they
wanted to share with the world. It is important to note that one of the most often cited issues was the
continuing concern with Kuwaitis still held captive in Iraq.
Proud of their economic development almost one in ten Kuwaitis point to this as their focus of
attention.
***
C. Saudi Arabia
Land (6.6)
Archeological sites (4); Mecca (0.6); Nature (2)
Culture and People (46.5)
Culture (6.1); Generosity of the population (11.6); Justice for all citizens
(1.7); Religious country (15.3); Saudi history (7.6); Sports (1.2); Traditions (0.5)
Government and Politics (25.5)
Arab nationalism (0.3); Cling to Arab rights (4.6); Democracy (1); Opposed
to terrorism but support legitimate resistance (2.2); Peace (2.5); People’s
solidarity with the government (2.5); Security issues (3.1); Lack of freedom
(2.7); Social status of the population (5.5); Political situation (3.6)
Economy (21.4)
Development and urbanization (6.5); Economic situation (9.9); Industry (1.8);
Trade (1); Investment (0.6); Oil (0.3); Agriculture (1.1); Internet development (0.2)
Unspecified Responses (0)
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Overview
When asked, “What is the most important thing you would want the rest of the world to know
about your country?” almost one-half of Saudis mention their religion, culture and the qualities of
the Saudi people. This is clearly the source of Saudi pride. Their attachment to religious traditions,
their generosity and history are what most Saudis want to talk about.
Given the country has not focused on its tourist attractions, this area draws only a small
percentage of responses, with respondents focusing on the archeological sites and nature of Arabia.
The other half of the Saudi respondents draw attention to political and economic issues. Almost
10% of these responses focused on general external policy concerns shared by many Saudis (Arab rights
etc.). Another 12% praised internal developments within the Kingdom, especially drawing attention to
the country’s economic advances and development of non-petroleum sectors of the country (industry,
trade, and agriculture). But a significant number of respondents emphasize some negative concerns or
made non-specific references to issues like the “political situation,” “the economic situation” or
“security issues” that it was not clear whether these were positive, negative or merely normative
references.
***
E. UAE
Land (28.2)
Agriculture (0.6); Architecture of centers and malls (3.2); Cleanliness (0.3);
Dream island (0.3); Green spaces (1); Modern country (1.6); Most important
country in the Gulf (1.3); New civilization (2.9); Paradise of the desert (4.2);
Sharjah area (0.3); Sunny weather (1.9); Tourism (3.5); Wahat al Khair
(5.8); Wahat Zayed (1.3)
103
Culture and People (26.1)
Culture (1.6); Diversity of nationalities (1); Diversity of religions (1.3);
Generosity of population (3.2); Goodness of the population (2.3); Islam
(5.2); Recent history of country (4.8); Religion (1.9); Respect for all citizens
(1); Social well-being of population (0.6); Traditions and customs (3.2)
Government and Politics (16.8)
Arab nationalism (5.2); Arab unity (1.3); Democracy (1); Freedom (1.9);
Peaceful country (6.8); Good relations with other countries (0.6)
Economy (10.6)
Technology (4.8); Trade (1.9); Commercial centers (2.6); Duty free zones
(0.3); Shopping festival (1)
Unspecified Responses (18.3)
Overview
When asked, “What is the most important thing you would want the rest of the world to know
about your country?” most Arabs in the UAE point either to the beauty of the country or to the
culture and other qualities of the people of the country, but there are some interesting differences to
note between these responses and those given by respondents in other countries.
For example, more than one-half of those who focus on the land of the UAE draw attention to
the rather extensive man-made enhancements to the country – it’s buildings and parks or as many
noted, “the paradise of the desert” or “this new civilization.”
The qualities of the culture of the country also draw recognition by more than one in four
respondents. They focused on the religion, history, and traditions of the UAE, and also its tolerance and
respect for diversity.
104
The more than a fourth of the respondents who draw attention to political or economic matters
were also substantially positive as well focusing on the peacefulness of the country and its commercial
and technological advances. A number also pointed out the UAE’s commitment to Arab nationalism
and unity.
***
F. Morocco
Land (22.7)
Tourism (19.4); Archeological sites (1.1); Civilizations (2.2)
Culture and People (33.7)
Charity work (0.5); Culture (6.1); Generosity of population (4.1);
Good-hearted population (2.6); Heritage (2.3); History (5.8); Islam (3.3);
Moroccan cuisine (1.7); Social status of country (0.5); Sports (4.5);
Traditions (2.3)
Government and Politics (18.6)
Democracy (2.7); Developed public relations with other countries (2.1);
Freedom of press (2.7); Good relations with other countries (0.5); Open
society (1.3); Peace (4.3); Politics (0.2); Security (3.3); Stability (1.5)
Economy (25)
Agriculture (2.6); Development (1.7); Industry (5); Plowing (1.3); Prosperous
economy (5.); Trade (8.7)
Unspecified Responses (0)
105
Overview
When asked, “What is the most important thing you would want the rest of the world to know
about your country?” a larger percentage than in any other Arab country surveyed point to economic
issues.
As in the case with most of the other groups interviewed for our study, a substantial number of
Moroccans are proud to point to their culture and heritage. They make note of their generosity and
are especially proud to draw attention to their accomplishments in sports.
Almost one in five Moroccans single out tourism and the draw of Morocco to foreign tourists as
a special quality of their country. They also note their countries economic development and openness in
their political system. All of this confirms the overwhelming satisfaction and optimism Moroccans
appear to display about their present and their future that was observed in chapter V.
***
G. Egypt
Land (43.8)
Archeological sites (9.7); Cairo (1.1); Civilization of pharaohs (1.4);
Egyptian civilization (16); History of Egypt (1.8); Mother of the world (6.9);
Nile River (1.6); Pyramids (1.6); Tourism (3.7)
Culture and People (22.1)
Culture (2.6); Diversity of religions (1.2); Generosity of population (2.2);
Goodness of population (5.8); Islam (7.8); Sports (0.3); Traditions and
customs (2.2)
106
Government and Politics (11.6)
Democracy (1.7); Deteriorating health sector (0.4); Difficult living
conditions (0.2); Foreign policy (0.3); Justice in the country (1); Leader of
Arab countries (0.6); Peaceful country (2.7); Security and stability (4.4);
Strong army (0.3)
Economy (9.9)
Agriculture (0.7); Economic situation (3.3); Good quality of Egyptian
products (0.5); Poverty (0.2); Technology (4.4); Trade (0.2);
Transportation problems (0.9)
Unspecified Responses (12.6)
Overview
When asked the question, “What is the most important thing you would want the rest of the
world to know about your country?” almost one-half of Egyptians draw on the country’s rich
historical past to provide an answer. In this Egypt is unique in its famous archeological sites and in
the identification of modern Egypt with its ancient past. As a result of this attitude, the two most
mentioned topics, noted by one in four respondents were the remains of past civilizations and the
country’s other historic sites.
One in five Egyptians also make note of the culture of contemporary Egypt, its religion and
goodness and generosity of its people.
While one in five Egyptians draw attention to political and economic issues, these, for the most
part, are fairly scattered and do not focus on any single issues. Worth noting in the political area are the
number who made mention of the security and stability of the country, possibly a reaction to concerns
107
that have been raised abroad. In the economic sphere, a number of Egyptians sought to note the
country’s advances in technology.
***
H. Arabs in Israel
Land (40.2)
Antiquities (0.4); Clean (0.4); Good country (2.8); Holy land (4.5); Landscape
(11); Mixed (0.4); Nice, beautiful (11.8); Quiet 90.8); Quiet area (5.7); Sea
(1.6); The village is nice (0.8)
Culture and People (35.8)
Attitude among people (9.8); Coexistence (1.6); Generosity of people (4.5);
Good people (10.2); Good schools (0.4); No understanding between people
(0.8); People like each other (2); Traditional (6.5)
Government and Politics (13.7)
Negative concerns (11.3)
Need help (3.3); No freedom (0.8); Our steadfastness, resistance, and
Earth Day (1.2); So-called Democracy (1.6); No peace (0.4); No
rights (2.4); October Massacre (1.2); We have been forgotten (0.4)
Positive concerns (2.4)
Progressive country (2.4)
Economy (5.6)
Bad economy (0.8); Difficult to live in (2.4); Expensive (0.4); Good agriculture (2)
Unspecified Responses (4.7)
108
Overview
When asked the question, “What is the most important thing you would want the rest of the
world to know about your country?” two in five Arabs in Israel speak of the land. Most frequently
noted are the landscape and the beauty of the country.
Another third draw attention to cultural aspects with about one-half of these comments being
positive, pointing out the goodness and generosity of the people. Almost 10% use the non-descript term
“attitudes of the people.” It is unclear whether this is a positive or negative observation.
More clear are the negative responses raised with regard to policies pursued by the government
and the failings of this community that although they have no rights and have need of help, they have,
nonetheless continued to remain strong.
Very few Arabs in Israel point to economic issues. Some cite their agriculture, while others cite
their economic difficulties.
***
109
XI. What Should the U.S. Do?
In a final effort to give all of our respondents an opportunity to give an unprompted response to a
question of interest, we asked them, “What can the United States do to improve its relations with the
Arab world?”
As in the case of the previous open-ended response questions the answers we obtained covered a
range of topics. But despite the fact that we heard from 3,200 respondents from 8 different countries,
the answers, we discovered, reflected a common set of concerns so that when grouped together portray
contemporary Arab attitudes in each country toward the U.S.
Individual respondents may speak their own minds, but when taken as a whole they become a
good measure of the collective voice.
What follows are the results of our findings tabulated for each country. In each case we present
the responses as organized in topic groups, together with the individual responses that make up that
category. The overall response given to each general topic appears in bold. The percentage given to the
individual responses that make up each category follows its listing.
***
A. Lebanon
General Values (18.8)
Freedom (0.5); honesty (0.9); Non-discrimination among countries (2.9); Peace (14.5)
110
Approach to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict (54.4)
Put limits to Israel (21.2); Recognize a sovereign Palestinian State (1.5);
Recognize the resistance and separate it from terrorism (3.2); Respect Security
Council resolutions (1.8); Sanction Israel (1.1); Sever relations with Israel (22);
Stop military support for Israel (3.6)
Relations with the Arab World (18.3)
Financial support (9); Improve its policies towards Arabs (2); Respect for
Arab countries (6.8); Withdraw its army from Saudi Arabia (6.8)
Unspecified (8.5)
Overview
When asked, “What can the United States do to improve its relations with the Arab
world?” almost one-half of the Lebanese respond by calling on the U.S. to “sever ties with Israel,”
(22%) “put limits on Israel” (21.2%) or otherwise sanction that state. A few others suggest urging
the U.S. to recognize the legitimacy of the Lebanese resistance. Clearly the Lebanese remain
troubled by Israel’s long period of occupation and bombing of their country and they feel that the
U.S. has provided that country with the military and diplomatic support to do so. The Lebanese
relationship with the U.S. appears, therefore, to be colored by this reality.
Other prominent answers to our question urged the U.S. to pursue peace and to show greater
respect for Arab countries. Almost 1 in 10 Lebanese seek greater financial assistance from the U.S.
***
111
B. Jordan
General Values (15.3)
Apply UN Resolutions (1); Freedom (0.8); Implement peace (2.3); Justice
(6.1); Keep its promises (0.5); Not to be partial towards any state (1.3);
Renounce terrorism (0.2); Respect human rights (2.5); Study International
Law (0.6)
Approach to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict (24.1)
Resume constructive negotiations (0.4); Sever ties with Israel (2.9); Stop
murdering the Palestinians (4.6); Stop supporting Israel (15); Support
Al Intifada (1.2)
Relations with the Arab World (14.3)
Financial support to Arab countries (1.7); Learn more about religion (0.8);
Lift sanctions from Iraq (1.1); Respect Arab countries (5.4); Respect Islam
(0.3); Support Arab countries (4.4); Withdraw American presence from Arab
countries (0.3)
Unspecified (46.3)
Overview
When asked, “What can the United States do to improve its relations with the Arab
world?” almost one-half of all Jordanians choose not to give a response. One in four of those
surveyed focus on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict with most of them (18%) wanting the U.S. to
sever ties with Israel as the way to improve its relations with the Arab world.
Of those who propose that the U.S. project a more balanced foreign policy, a number of
respondents urge the U.S. to be just, implement peace and respect human rights.
112
One in six respondents note more specific ways that the U.S. could improve its relations
including showing more respect for or support for Arab countries.
***
C. Kuwait
General Values (27.4)
Implement justice (8.2); Not to be partial towards any state (8.1); Peace (11.1)
Approach to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict (29.1)
Establish an independent Palestinian State (4.6); Not to be biased for Israel
(10.5); Sever relations with Israel (10.9); Stop Middle East conflict (2.3);
Support the Palestinian case (0.8)
Relations with the Arab World (40.4)
Cooperation with Arab countries (1.1); Financial and technical support for
Arab countries (1); Free Kuwaiti prisoners (0.9); Invest in Arab countries
(0.5); Not to consider Islam as terrorism (4.5); Remove Saddam from
power (2.9); Respect Arab countries (10.6); Respect human rights of Arabs
(13.3); Send UNIFL troops to Kuwait (1.5); Support Arabs’ issues (0.5);
Understand the Arabs (3.6)
Unspecified (3.1)
Overview
When asked, “What can the United States do to improve its relations with the Arab world?”
Kuwaitis offer a wide range of recommendations.
113
The single largest concern, however, is the U.S. bias, mostly toward Israel. Almost 30%
raised this issue with 11% calling on the U.S. to sever ties with Israel, over 10% urging the U.S. not to
be biased toward Israel, and another 8% recommending that the U.S. not be partial to any state.
Almost one in five Kuwaitis urge the U.S. to work for peace and implement justice, while almost
one- quarter feel that the U.S. should do more to respect Arab countries and respect the human rights of
Arabs.
Interestingly just over 5% of all of the responses focused on Iraq-related issues.
***
D. Saudi Arabia
General Values (21)
Apply UN Resolutions (0.9); Fight terrorism (1.2); Implement justice (6.7);
Implement peace in area (12.2)
Approach to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict (44)
Judge Ariel Sharon (8.5); Stop supporting Israel (24.2); Support Palestine (11.3)
Relations with the Arab World (30.5)
Better treatment of Arabs (4.3); Help Iraq (3.4); Improve its policies toward
Arab world (1.1); Improve its relations with Arabs (10.8); Move away from
Gulf area (3.2); Respect Arabs (7.4); Understand Islam (1.1)
Unspecified (3.7)
Overview
114
When asked for their response to the question, “What can the United States do to improve its
relations with the Arab world?” almost one half of Saudis address their concerns with U.S. policy
toward the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. While 11% indicate that the U.S. should “support Palestine,”
almost 33% of the total number of Saudi respondents express different forms of concern with U.S.
support for Israel.
Another area raised by a number of Saudis was the general attitude toward the broader Arab
world. Almost one-quarter of all those surveyed urge the U.S. to “improve its relations,” or “respect” or
show “better treatment” towards Arabs.
Almost one in five Saudi respondents urged the U.S. to implement justice and work for peace as
the best way for it to improve its relations with the Arab world.
***
E. UAE
General Values (13.9)
Fight terrorism (1); Implement justice (5.2); Implement peace (5.8); Not be
biased toward any state (1.3); Respect international laws (0.6)
Approach to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict (30.6)
Don’t be biased toward Israel (7.1); End interferences in Palestinian affairs
(0.6); End its relations with Israel (1.3); Free Yasser Arafat (1.3); Give the
Palestinian people their rights (7.1); Help the Palestinians (0.6); Israeli
withdrawal from all occupied territories (1.3); Not to be biased towards
Israel (1.3); Receive Arafat in Washington (0.6); Recognize a viable
Palestinian State (2.6); Stop helping Israel (2.6); Stop Israeli dominance
of American media (1), Stop Israeli terrorism (3.2)
Relations with the Arab World (30.5)
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Change its policy towards the Arab countries (5.2); Cooperation with Arab
countries (3.2); Help Arabs through more objective media (0.6); improve
relations with Arabs (2.3); Not to fight Islam (0.3); Recognize Islam (0.3);
Recognize the rights of the Arab population (0.6); Respect Arab countries (9);
Respect Arabs (6.5); Stop accusing Arabs of being terrorists (0.6); Stop
sanctions imposed on Iraq (1.3); Understand Arabs (0.6)
Unspecified (25)
Overview
When asked the question, “What can the United States do to improve its relations with the Arab
world?” respondents in the UAE gave a wide variety of answers. When grouped together, however,
they form a pattern not unlike those of respondents from other Arab counties.
Slightly over 30% of all the responses given focus on the U.S. policy toward the Palestinian-
Israeli conflict. About two-thirds of the recommendations suggested in this area focus on changing the
U.S. bias toward Israel, the other one-third urge the U.S. to do more to recognize the rights of the
Palestinian people.
Another 30% of the responses given to this question urge the U.S. to respect Arab countries,
Arab people, and change U.S. policy toward the Arab world.
About one in eight who present recommendations urged the U.S. to implement justice and peace.
Almost one-quarter of UAE respondents to the survey do not offer any answer to this question.
***
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F. Morocco
General Values (28.4)
Apply UN Resolutions (0.8); Disarmament of nuclear weapons (1.5); Help
third world countries (1.3); Implement peace (10.7); justice 97); Not to be
biased toward any state (6.3); Remove sanctions imposed on weak countries (0.8)
Approach to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict (32.9)
Expel Israelis from all Palestinian land (1.7); Help Palestine (17.2); Judge
Ariel Sharon (0.4); Resolve Palestinian-Israeli conflict (5.4); Stop helping
Israel (3.5); Stop murdering the Palestinians (4.7)
Relations with the Arab World (33)
Change its policy towards the Arabs (5.9); Cooperation with Arab countries (0.8);
Financial support for Arabs (1.1); Help the Arabs in the European countries (4.3);
Not to interfere in Arabs’ issues (3.6); Remove sanctions imposed on Iraq (0.8);
Respect Arab countries (10.9); Respect the human rights of Arabs (1.9); Support
the Arabs (3.7)
Unspecified (5.7)
Overview
When asked the question, “What can the United States do to improve its relations with the Arab
world?” Moroccans give near equal weight to recommendations in all three areas.
One-third of the respondents urged the U.S. to take steps to respect or change U.S. policy toward
Arab countries.
Another one-quarter of Moroccans suggest that the U.S. help the Palestinians and resolve the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict – with about 10% wanting the U.S. to take steps against the Israelis.
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Almost 30% of the respondents want the U.S. to adopt more value driven policies. Most of
these want the U.S. to work for peace and justice. Others want the U.S. to be less biased toward
any state.
***
G. Egypt
General Values (23)
Apply justice in its policies (10.9); Fight terrorism (0.2); Implement peace (7.6);
Not to be biased toward any state (3.5); Respect UN Resolutions (0.8)
Approach to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict (53.8)
End its relations with Israel (9.5); End the siege of the Palestinians (7.1);
Help the Palestinians (4.6); Not to be biased towards Israel (24.2); Put more
pressure on Israel to withdraw form all occupied territories (2.3); Resolve the
Palestinian–Israeli conflict (5.6); To recognize the Palestinian State (0.1); To
stand up to Israel (0.4)
Relations with the Arab World (8.2)
Change its policies towards the Arabs (2.7); Help the Arabs (1.8); Respect
the Arabs (0.3); Support Iraqi economy (0.3); Support the Egyptian economy (3.1)
Unspecified (15)
Overview
When asked the question, “What can the United States do to improve its relations with the
Arab world?” more than one-half of all Egyptians covered in our study make recommendations to
change U.S. policy toward the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Most of these respondents want the U.S.
to stop being biased toward Israel, others want the U.S. to end its relationship with that state. This issue
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of U.S. favoritism towards Israel is clearly a major concern for the Egyptians and a change in that policy
is what significant numbers of respondents feel is required to improve U.S. relations with the Arab
world.
Another one in five urge the U.S. to “apply justice in its policies” and work for peace. A fairly
small number of Egyptians focus on recommending changes in policy towards the broader Arab world
as the way for the U.S. to improve its standing in the region.
H. Israel
General Values (38)
Change behavior (2.7); Be fair (11.6); Help stop all terror (14.1); Promote
peace between states (7.6); Promote democracy and end discrimination (2)
Approach to Palestinian-Israeli Conflict (53.7)
Work for Middle East peace (33.3); Help Palestinians (6.4); Pressure Israel
to make peace with Palestinians (9.2); Get Israel to leave occupied territories
(2); Stop massacres in occupied territories (1.2); Help remove Sharon (1.6)
Relations with Arab World (6.8)
Disengage and leave Arab world alone (6.4); Listen to Arabs (.4)
Unspecified (1.5)
Overview
When asked the question, “What can the United States do to improve its relations with the Arab
world?” for obvious reasons, Arabs in Israel focus on the need for Middle East peace. Fully one
third of all respondents say that the US should “work for Middle East peace.” Another 13% want the
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US to apply some form of pressure on the Israeli government to change its policies. A high 14% want
the US to help stop “all terror,” while a significant 6.4% want the US to disengage completely from the
region.
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XII. A Final Note: Arabs and Americans Share Common
Values and Concerns
In Chapter II, while commenting on the choices Arabs made when ranking the concerns
that are most important in their lives, we noted that “Arabs not unlike other people all over the world,
are focused principally on matters of personal security, fulfillment, and satisfaction.”
In an effort to see how the rank order of Arab concerns compared with those selected by another
distinctive group, we asked the same questions in a poll of 1,000 Americans. The questions were the
same as those reported on in Chapter II, with only two minor variations (i.e. we deleted “political issues
in your country” and changed “political issues facing the Arab nations” to “foreign policy.”
Table XLV gives the results of our inquiry in both rating (i.e. percentage of the respondents who
give a “four” or a “five” to each concern) and ranking of each concern. The rank order given to these
concerns by Americans are shown in comparison with the average rank order given to them by Arabs in
our eight-country study.
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Table XLV. Importance of Concerns in Personal Life: A Comparison of Arabs and Americans Concerns Arab Rank Arab Avg.
Rank American
Rank Percentage
Quality of Work
1 2 2 85
Family 2 2.5 1 97
Religion 2 3 7 69
Job Security 4 3 5 74
Marriage 5 5.5 4 78
Friends 6 6 3 81
Foreign Policy 8 8 7 70
Leisure Time 9 9 8 66
***
What we found is that with few exceptions the baskets of priority concerns chosen by Arabs and
Americans are quite similar. There are only two significant differences. Americans give a much higher
score to the concern with having “friends,” and a much lower score to “religion.”
Americans also appear to be more concerned with the issue of “family” since this concern was
the only one to achieve a score of over 90%. But even with these differences both Arabs and Americans
agree on four of the five items in their respective priority baskets of concerns – and all of them identify
personal concerns that are close to home. The difference, of course, being that given the nature of
American society today, “friends” are a “close to home” issue, while for Arabs, religion remains a
priority concern of personal importance.
***
In a similar vein, in the same poll, we tested Americans with regard to the values they felt were
most important to teach their children – thus reproducing the questions we reported on in Chapter III.
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The results comparing the Arab responses with those of our 1,000 American respondents are
found in Table XLVI.
Table XLVI. Importance of Values to Be Taught to Children:
A Comparison of Arabs and Americans Values Arab Rank Arab Avg.
Rank American
Rank Percentage
Self-Respect 1 3 2 97
Good Health and Hygiene
2 3.5 3 96
Responsibility 3 3.5 1 98
Respect for Elders
4 4 5 94
To Achieve a Better Life
5 4 8 87
Self-Reliance 6 5.5 4 95
Religious Faith 7 6 12 71
Serious Work Habits
8 6.5 6 94
Obedience 9 7 11 83
Creativity 10 10 9 86
Tolerance of Other’s Views
11 10 10 86
Respect for Authority
12 11 7 89
Once again, we note a significant convergence in shared values, with Arabs and Americans
agreeing on almost identical “priority baskets.” The top three rated values are the same, as are five of
the six highest rated values that both groups believe are important to teach to children. And once again,
all of the shared values are those that focus on personal and family concerns – with less emphasis placed
on values related to “external” matters.
The major differences that appear are, for the most part, in a few lower end values. Arabs give a
higher ranking to “religious faith,” while Americans place more emphasis on teaching the “respect for
authority.”
The most significant area of disagreement is with regard to teaching the need to “achieve a better
life.” Arabs rank this in their top baskets of priorities, while Americans rank this value much lower.
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***
What emerges from this comparison is that both Arabs and Americans share many concerns and
values. Both peoples, despite the cultural, social, and economic differences that characterize their
worlds, want what is best for their families. They want their families to be secure and strong. They
want meaningful work that allows them to provide for those that they love and they want to lead
meaningful lives that allow them to prosper and project their values into the future.