We all see a lot of polls of Americans. But we do not see too many polls of countries abroad, especially those in the Middle East. What we get a lot of is breaking news (such as the Flotilla incident) and punditry. But what do "the people" think?
While I was reading an article in the Web version of the NY Times, a link to a poll of Palestinians was shown, and I went to check it out. What I found was very educational.
This is the link to the poll:
http://www.pcpsr.org/
I look at the data from this and I realize that most Israelis and most Palestinians want the same things, and that the main thing getting in the way is (lack of) trust. The lack of trust is due, in my opinion, to fear, and the fear is perpetuated by a combination of bad (extremist) leadership and sensationalist media.
I hope that everyone who looks at this poll makes an effort to tell others about it. Maybe some misperceptions can be removed. Ones about Israelis AND ones about Palestinians.
Thanks for reading.
