55% of Brits support racial profiling of Muslims: Arab News/YouGov poll
More than half of the Britons surveyed want the UK to recognize Palestine Public thinks UK foreign policy is failing in Middle East
The wide-ranging poll of 2,142 adults found that UK residents have strong feelings about key Middle East issues — including the fight against Daesh and war in Iraq — but 81 percent admitted to knowing little or nothing about the Arab world.
The results of the “UK attitudes toward the Arab world” survey are published today in Arab News and are being unveiled at a media event held in London.
One of the main findings of the poll, which was conducted in conjunction with the Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU), was that 55 percent of Brits agree with racial profiling against Arabs and Muslims for security reasons.
The “UK attitudes toward the Arab world” poll, which was conducted in mid-August, illustrates a disparity in UK public opinion on the Arab world.
Seven in 10 believe the UK should take in fewer refugees from Syria and Iraq, rising to 91 percent among those who voted for the UK to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum. More than six in 10 of the respondents feel that Arabs who migrated to the UK and Europe have failed to integrate in Western societies.
But 72 percent also point to the problem of rising Islamophobia in the UK, with 70 percent saying anti-refugee statements from politicians and others risk sparking more hate crimes.
The poll found that 53 percent of respondents believe the UK should recognize Palestine as a state. Most Brits are dissatisfied with UK foreign policy on the Arab world, with 57 percent saying it has been largely ineffective in upholding human rights and promoting global security. More than half of those polled support Britain’s current military intervention against Daesh, while eight in 10 Brits believe going to war in Iraq in 2003 was wrong. IRBIL, Iraq: Iraq’s Kurds will go ahead with a referendum on independence on Monday because partnership with Baghdad has failed, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Masoud Barzani said on Sunday.
Iraq’s Kurds will seek talks with the central government to implement the expected “yes”outcome of the referendum, even if they take two years or more, to settle land and oil sharing disputes ahead of independence, he told a news conference in at his headquarters near the KRG seat, Irbil.
“We will never go back to the failed partnership” with Baghdad, he said, adding Iraq had become a “theocratic, sectarian state” and not the democratic one that was supposed to be built after the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi made a televised address on Sunday about the referendum that his government opposes as anti-constitutional. The vote, he said, “could lead to ethnic divisions, exposing (the Iraqis) to disastrous dangers that only God knows.”
Barzani dismissed the concern of Iran and Turkey that the vote could destabilize the region, committing to respecting the laws on international boundaries and not seeking to redraw region’s borders.
Iranian authorities stopped air traffic to the international airports of Irbil and Sulaimaniya, in Iraqi Kurdistan, on a request from Baghdad, Fars News Agency said.
“Turkey will never ever tolerate any status change or any new formations on its southern borders,” Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Sunday. “The KRG will be primarily responsible for the probable developments after this referendum.”
Despite holding strong views on these key topics, most Brits admit to knowing little or nothing about the Arab world, and 41 percent say they would never travel to the region.
“The poll results strongly suggest that the UK public is dissatisfied with British diplomatic intervention in the Arab
Barzani said Ankara “won’t benefit” economically should it close the border with Iraqi Kurdistan.
Tehran and Ankara fear the spread of separatism to their own Kurds. Iran also supports Shiite groups who have been ruling or holding key security and government positions in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion which toppled Saddam Hussein.
Barzani said the Kurds will “keep extending their hand” to Iran and Turkey, even if the two countries do not reciprocate, adding that he did meet recently in the Kurdish region with Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commander Qassem Soleimani who came to convince him to delay the vote. world, but that Brits also lack knowledge about some of the complexities of the region,” said Faisal J. Abbas, the editor in chief of Arab News.
“The Arab world is home to some of the poorest countries in the world, yet nearly a third of Brits associate it with being wealthy. One may ask what impact such perceptions might have on aid decisions made by Western governments.”
Chris Doyle, director of CAABU, said the apparent lack of a broader awareness in the UK about the Arab world was cause for concern.
“Considering the enormous importance of the Arab world to Britain, it is alarming that 81 percent of the British population say they know little or nothing about this vital region. Whilst a third want to learn more, a massive 41 percent would not visit the region,” he said.
“At a time when mutual understanding is more needed than ever, this chasm must be addressed — something we at CAABU intend to do.”
LONDON: The majority of Britons agree with racial profiling of Arabs and Muslims, and 69 percent think the UK should take in fewer refugees from Syria and Iraq, an Arab News/YouGov poll has found.
The KRG has resisted calls to delay the referendum by the UN, the US and Britain who fear it could distract from the war on Daesh should it lead to unrest in disputed areas like multi-ethnic Kirkuk.
“Only independence can reward the mothers of our martyrs,” Barzani said, reminding the international community of the role played by the Kurds in the war on Daesh.
Kurdish Peshmerga fighters who control Kirkuk were given instructions not to respond to any provocation meant to disrupt the vote, but they will defend the region if attacked from outside, he said, adding that he does not expect armed clashes with Baghdad.