Half of Young Moroccans Support Normalizing Ties with Israel, Survey Finds

Conducted between March 27 and April 12, 2023 among 3,600 Arab youth in 53 cities in 18 states in the Middle East and North Africa, this Arab Youth survey reveals that nearly 17% of young people in five of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as 11% of young North Africans, see Israel as a "strong ally or rather an ally".

In Morocco, 50% of young people are in favor of restoring relations with Israel, while 44% are opposed. Three-quarters of Emirati and Egyptian youth are also in favor of strengthening ties with Israel, according to the study cited by Hespress, which specifies that 47% of South Sudanese youth and 30% of Bahraini youth approve this resumption of relations, compared to 86% of Arab youth who consider Israel a "powerful adversary or rather an adversary" of their country.

In detail, 57% of Iranian youth and 53% of Bahraini youth are against the restoration of ties with Israel. This is also the case for the vast majority of young people in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq and the Palestinian territories. The Arab youth surveyed also fear an exacerbation of tensions between Iran and Israel, while they are divided on the outcome of the Israeli-Palestinian tensions, some believing that a resolution of the conflict is unlikely within five years, and others