<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>A majority of Americans do not see the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a foreign policy priority, according to two new concurrent surveys by the Pew Research Center.&nbsp;</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Americans identified as their top four of 22 foreign policy priorities protecting the country from terrorism (71 percent), reducing illegal drugs (64 percent), preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction (63 percent) and maintaining a military advantage over foreign powers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict drew 29 percent, ranking only 14th among the 22 priorities.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The question of “supporting Israel” ranked even lower at 20th with 22 percent, with 31 percent opposing that support.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Overall, a majority of Americans say that all 22 long-range foreign policy goals we asked about should be given at least some priority. Still, about three in 10 say supporting Israel, promoting democracy in other nations (28 percent) and supporting Ukraine (27 percent) should be given no priority,” Jacob Poushter, Pew associate director of research, told Arab News.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Even with these priorities, 83 percent of Americans say it is more important for President Joe Biden to focus on domestic policy, compared with 14 percent who say he should focus on foreign policy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“In 2019, 74 percent wanted then-President Donald Trump to focus on domestic policy, and 23 percent said he should focus on foreign policy.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pew researchers said finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was previously “a priority that saw no partisan difference at all” in a 2018 survey.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But the new surveys show a “partisan gap” emerging, with twice as many Democrats (36 percent) today than in 2018 calling the conflict “a priority,” while the share of Republicans (20 percent) has remained constant.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Twenty-nine percent of Americans say they have a great deal or fair amount of confidence in the UN’s ability to provide effective humanitarian aid to Gaza. Fifty-one percent do not have confidence and 19 percent are unsure.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Only 15 percent of Americans say they have confidence in the UN’s ability to enforce a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Sixty-seven percent have no confidence and 17 percent are unsure.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A recent Pew survey found that only 12 percent of Americans believe that lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians is at least somewhat likely. - Arab News</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/fas</div>