This is a follow-up to my reply to Iraqi blogger Zeyad, who felt that the majority of Jordanians regard the late Zarqawi a martyr.
The death of al-Qaida’s chief in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is still reverberating in Jordan, where the majority of the population sees him as a terrorist. An opinion poll conducted by the non-governmental organization Epsos Stat Center for daily al-Ghad indicated that 59 percent of Jordanians consider their countryman Zarqawi, whose real name is Ahmed Fadel al-Khalayila, a "terrorist." The poll, which surveyed 1,014 people over 18-years-old from various walks of life, also showed that 67 percent refused to see Zarqawi as a "martyr," as he was dubbed by Jordan’s Islamist movement, sparking an uproar among Jordanians.
…The poll, with a margin of error of 3.2 percent, indicated that 70 percent of the sample saw offering condolences for Zarwqawi’s death as a provocation of national sentiments, especially for the families of the Amman bombings in which 60 people died. Only 15 percent, mostly in the 18 to 39 age bracket, described Zarqawi as a "martyr" or an "ordinary citizen." Source: [UPI]
In addition, here is the article on the poll in Alghad (Arabic) and media-analyst and blogger Abu Aardvark’s take on the survey. Who knows, maybe this poll combined with the recent anti-Zarqawi demonstrations will motivate Zeyad to reconsider his position.
oh … COME ON….. Don’t tell me you’re judging Jordanian Hospitality using that story…. PLEASE Craig numbers and real case studies can tell, not only one officer in the border.
Hamzeh, I agree with you. I can’t speak about Jordan in particular, but in general, I think it’s scarey enough that there are some people in this world (no matter what country they are from) who side with Zarqawi and his cause. It’s horrifying to think about.
Why don’t we all put it this way, ok? Away from numbers and which side is over 50%, I think the percentage in Jordan’s population that sympathizes with terrorists like Al Zarqawi is big enough to be worrying and to deserve attention.
Asfour, how about Libyans?
The Journey to Amman and back
I found it telling when Highlander said Libyans had the same “pariah” satus as Iraqis in Jordan. Is that what you call hospitality? And I was personnaly OFFENDED when she pointed out how well Americans are treated in Jordan, because I know damn good and well, from polls and blogs both, that Jordanians despise Americans. Even though Jordanians all speak english with an American accent. There’s some kind of disconnect in Jordan between public opinion and public RELATIONS which is bizarre, and quite alarming.
Hamako,
There’s no point in arguing with a pre-determined mind.
Yes, that’s the conclusion I came to about a year ago when I decided there wasn’t much point in reading Jordanian blogs 🙂
Thanks for the input, but it’s kinda counter-productive to have people telling me that I should ignore what they themselves are telling me, when I read between the lines.
Well…. after I read Zeyad’s post, and what he suggested on Natasha’s blog, I had to test going out and talk to taxi drivers, and guess what was the result…. I swear to God this is what happened… I got into the car and before I tell him where to go he said: Are you Iraqi?? I said:No, why? He replied: cause all Iraqis should be kicked out of this country and to be thrown away….. I said: offfff tab why are you saying this? He told me: they caught the ones responsible for the killing of the Mobile Shop woman in Sahab, and guess what? they were two f=**/-* Iraqis, they did nothing but destroying the country…… you know I am very sad cause Zarqawi was killed, I know he killed 40 50 or even 60 Jordanians, but he used to kill hundreds of Iraqis each day….. (This is the man on street public opinion) Do I really agree with him? what about Jordanian bloggers? what about the majority of the Jordanians, I don’t think any body agrees.
Every body is welcomed in Jordan: people from Iraq, Palestine, Syria ….. No single Palestinian is allowed to travel to any country unless he travels to Jordan, another case IS Zeyad’s case to get the Visa. God bless Jordan for Helping all our Arab BROTHERS.
My suggestion to Zeyad again, and all others participated on this issue is to leave Jordan in peace, and to thank God they found a generous country like Jordan.
unfortunately, I guess the poll results aren’t accurate.
I thought the results of the poll were worrying to me. About 15% still think Zarqawi is a hero and a martyr, and this percentage is toomuch, it can be a dangerous indicator for fundamentalism and justification of terrorism in Jordan
Pffft…You wanted a poll, and now that you have it, you don’t want buy it. There’s no point in arguing with a pre-determined mind. Thanks for the initiative Natasha (and for the restaurants you recommended a while back:) )
Natasha, I didn’t read Abu Aardvark’s post as saying what you think it does. I think he did a pretty thorough job of trashing that poll. I don’t usually agree with Abu Aardvark, but in this case I do. And I’m not basing my opinion on poll results. I’m basing it on comments I’ve seen Jordanians make on English language blogs over the last year or so.
BTW, I think Zeyad is a pretty good judge of “man on the street” public opinion. He’s invariably turned out to be right when he’s pointed to shifts in Iraqi public opinion, when everyone else was saying something different.