The public relations giant, Burson-Marsteller who refused to represent Israel, yet worked for the Muslim Brotherhood of Tunisia has just released the annual “ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey, which has been conducted annually for the last seven years and polls 3,500 Arabs aged 18 to 24 from 16 Arab countries in face-to-face interviews.
The survey synopsis describes Palestine as a country, and explains there were 150 participants in the survey from the Gaza Strip, and 150 from the “West Bank.”
Amongst the questions were “What do you believe is the biggest obstacle facing the Middle East?”
Arabs in the Middle East said the biggest obstacle facing the Middle East was ISIS (37 percent), terrorism (32 percent), unemployment (29 percent), and only 23 percent of participants said the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the biggest obstacle in the region. Participants were allowed more than one choice, hence, additional findings were Rising cost of living (22 percent), Lack of Arab unity (20 percent), Civil unrest (18 percent), Lack of strong political leadership (17 percent), Lack of democracy (15 percent), Loss of traditional values (12 percent), slow economic growth (10 percent.) Interestingly, only 8 percent of Arab youth in the Middle East viewed “The threat of nuclear Iran” as the biggest obstacle in the area.
39 percent of participants agreed that democracy will never work in the Middle East. The PR firm who refused Israel perhaps can reassure Israel that fear of ISIS has helped them amongst Arab youth.
