NEW YORK, Dec 9: The situation in Iraq has contributed towards negative views of United States in the Arab world, replacing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, says a poll conducted by the Washington-based Arab-American Institute released on Wednesday.

The survey was conducted in October of some 4,000 people in six countries: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

James Zogby, the project director, said on Wednesday that the current poll shows that attitudes toward the United States have improved only slightly since last year, but remain low. “Negative attitudes hardened,” he said.

“And we found that the major reasons that they hardened had to do with Iraq.

“Iraq has replaced Israel-Palestine for the time being as the principal source of aggravation. The treatment of Arabs and Muslims is a strong second for most of the countries.

“Interestingly enough, America’s advocacy of democracy and freedom has resonated only in a positive way among Christians in Lebanon,” he noted.

The poll found that jobs, health care, corruption, education, terrorism and civil rights were more important to the 3,900 Arabs interviewed across the Middle East, mostly in cities.

Ending corruption and nepotism, a choice that was not on a comparable 2004 poll, ranked third, after improving health care, the summary said.