Source: Daily Star, 13-10-2006
BEIRUT: A Jordanian poll published Thursday showed that 84 percent of Lebanese believe that the recent war on Lebanon was a premeditated attempt by the United States and "Israel" to impose a new regional order in the Middle East.
The study was conducted by the Center for Strategic Studies (CSS) at the University of Jordan. A majority of those polled thought the war was initiated by "Israel" and the United States to reshape the region into a "new Middle East," while 13 percent of respondents disagreed, according to an article published in Haaretz.
The poll sample of 1,200 Lebanese included Shiites, Sunnis, Christians and Druze. The margin of error was 2-3 percent, said Mohammad Masri, a fellow at the CSS, which conducts surveys analyzing major events in the region.
Seventy percent of Shiites, the religious group most affected by the violence, said Hizbullah came out the victor, while only 36 percent of Sunnis and 19 percent of Christians believed Hizbullah won.
Among the Druze 82 percent believed Lebanon was the biggest loser. Christians follow closely behind at 73 percent.
The majority of Shiite respondents agreed that Hizbullah`s capture of the soldiers was justified, while the majority of Druze disagreed.
Stuck in the middle of these two groups were the Christians and Sunnis, who appeared more divided about their opinions of the conflict.
"There tend to be multiple poles of opinions among these two groups," Masri said, referring to internal disputes between rival political figures in each of the two religious blocs.
Taken as a whole, half of all respondents believed that Lebanon came out as the biggest loser and 37 percent say "Israel" emerged defeated.
But 78 percent believe that the war would have happened whether Hizbullah captured the "Israeli" soldiers or not.
A separate poll showed Thursday that "Israeli" Prime Minister Ehud Olmert`s Kadima party would rank in third place behind Benjamin Netanyahu`s Likud and another right wing faction if elections were held now.
The survey in "Israel's" Yediot Ahronot daily showed Likud would get 22 seats - up from 12 now - in "Israel's" 120-member Knesset, with Kadima beaten into third place with only 15 seats compared to the 29 it won in March elections.
Kadima would slip behind the rightist immigrant party Yisrael Beitenu, whose share would rise to 20 seats from 11 now.
An "Israeli" poll last month showed that Olmert`s approval ratings had sunk to 22 percent from 48 percent six months earlier. Support for Netanyahu, meanwhile, had risen to 59 percent.