European poll: Many Finns unwilling to take sides on Lebanon conflict

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Finnish attitudes toward the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement are largely similar to those of other European Union citizens. The main difference is that Finns are less willing than others to choose sides in the issue.
      According to the results of a an international poll published on Monday by Gallup International, 44 percent of respondents in Finland were unable, or unwilling to say which of the two, Israel or Hezbollah, started the recent conflict. Of all Western European countries, only in Iceland and Austria was the proportion of those who do not know, or will not say greater than in Finland.
     
"As far as the Finns are concerned, we can say that a kind of neutrality was emphasised in the answers. People did not want to take a stand on issues of sympathy or blame", said Juhani Pehkonen, executive director of Suomen Gallup.
      "In previous surveys Finns have been fairly critical toward the United States, but this does not come out to any special degree in this one."
      Pehkonen also says that one reason for the differences in results of the various countries could be that the formulation of the questions asked in the poll differed somewhat from one country to another.
     
A majority of the 33 countries in the survey (24), saw Israel as the instigator of the conflict. However, when the total respondents of the countries are added together, a greater proportion felt that Hezbollah started the conflict (37 percent) than Israel (32 percent).
      In Finland, 31 percent blamed Israel for the conflict, and 25 percent blamed Hezbollah.
      In Sweden, 41 percent felt that Israel was to blame. The most critical towards Israel among European countries was Greece.
      The most pro-Israeli feelings came from Germany, Portugal, and Russia. More than a third of respondents of all countries had a positive attitude toward Israel.
     
On the question of the importance of the presence of the United Nations in the area, Finns had the most critical view, although 58 percent agreed either partially or completely that the UN should form a buffer zone between Israel and Lebanon.
      Finns were also more eager than the British and Austrians, for instance, to deploy their own soldiers in the peacekeeping effort.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Tuomioja chairs EU foreign ministers´ meeting on Lebanon (25.8.2006)
  Syrian Foreign Minister meets Tuomioja in Helsinki (24.8.2006)
  Foreign Affairs Committee endorses sending peacekeepers to Lebanon (23.8.2006)

Links:
  Gallup International new survey on Israel/Lebanon conflict

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