Who supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Arab world?

What is it about?

The Arab Spring and the short-lived political ascendancy of Islamist movements reignited the debate about what greater popular participation in foreign policy decision-making would entail for the prospects of peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Building on the developing body of individual-level investigations into the Democratic Peace thesis and contributing to the wider debate about the relationship between peace and democracy in the Middle East, this paper utilizes 2010–2011 Arab Barometer data to establish the determinants of public support for a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict across the Arab world. The results reveal that emancipative political values such as support for gender equality and secularism help predict greater support for peace with Israel. These findings demonstrate that contrary to the claims of skeptics, democratization and peace can reinforce each other in the Arab world.

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Why is it important?

Instead of relying on an authoritarian status quo which produces weak socio-economic development and increased support for anti-Western violence, the United States and its allies need to invest in promoting political reform which would enable a fairer distribution of the economic benefits of existing peace treaties and encourage greater support for women’s rights. This analysis shows that the idea of Arab public support for peace between Israel and its neighbors is not as naive as it sounds at first glance. Those seeking to bring it about can count on the logic of economic self-interest and the considerable number of Arab supporters of secularism and gender equality.