UNITED NATIONS, July 1: Majority of people in most countries think the United Nations should play a greater role in the conflict in the Middle East and that it should offer to send peacekeepers to the region.

They believe that the UN should not only to enforce an eventual agreement but also to guarantee the security of both Israel and its Arab neighbours, said a new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll released on Tuesday.

Out of 18 countries the poll finds that in 14 of them people mostly say their governments should not take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Most UN Security Council members support sending UN peacekeepers to enforce an eventual Israeli-Palestinian agreement, including majority in China (81 per cent), France (74 per cent), Britain (67 per cent), the United States (61 per cent), and a plurality of Russians (47 per cent), the poll said.

Just three countries favour taking the Palestinian side (Egypt, Iran, and Turkey). No country favours taking Israel’s side, including the United States, where 71 per cent favour taking neither side.

World people give low marks to Israel, the Palestinians, the United States and the Arab countries when asked how well they are doing their part in the effort to resolve the conflict.

People around the world are not cheering for either side and want their governments to take an even-handed approach, said Steven Kull, director of WorldPublicOpinion.org. “All of the key actors are seen as failing to do their part to break the impasse and most want the UN Security Council to step in and offer peacekeeping forces and even security guarantees to help resolve the conflict.”The poll of 18,792 respondents was conducted by WorldPublicOpinion.org, a collaborative research project involving research centres from around the world and managed by the Programme on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland.

Interviews were conducted in 18 countries, including most of the largest nations–China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Russia—as well as Mexico, Peru, Britain, France, Spain, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Thailand and South Korea. The Palestinian Territories were also polled. The nations included represent 59 per cent of the world population. Not all questions were asked in all nations. The survey was fielded between January 10 and May 6. Margins of error range from +/-2 to 4 per cent.

On average 58 per cent of those polled around the world say that they believe their country should not take either side in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Only 20 per cent say their country should favour the Palestinians and just 7 per cent say the Israelis.Large majority of about 70 per cent or more prefer a neutral stance in eight countries, including the United States (71 per cent), as well as Mexico (88 per cent), South Korea (82 per cent), Britain (79 per cent), France (79 per cent), Peru (76 per cent), China (74 per cent ), and Ukraine (69 per cent).

World people give low marks to international actors when asked to evaluate how well they are “doing their part in the effort to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Israel receives the worst ratings. In 13 out of the 15 countries asked this question, majority say the Israelis are “not doing very well” or “not doing well at all.”

On average, 54 per cent say Israel is not playing a positive role while just 22 per cent say it is. Those giving Israel poor grades include three out of five Americans (59 per cent). Only in India do more view Israel’s role positively (35 per cent) than negatively (25 per cent). The Chinese are divided.