WASHINGTON, July 29: Fifteen per cent of Arab Americans in the Detroit area say they have experienced harassment or intimidation since 9/11. The Detroit area has the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the United States.

A University of Michigan report released on Thursday said derogatory remarks such as "go back where you come from" or "are you a member of Al Qaeda?" were the most common form of abuse. Some complained of job discrimination but only a small number reported physical abuse.

Forty-two per cent of Muslim Arabs said most Americans do not respect their religion. Nearly 60 per cent said their worries about their future in the United States after 9/11 had increased.

The survey was based on in-person interviews with 1,016 adults of Arab or Chaldean descent in Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties. Interviews were conducted between July 2003 and December and the margin of error was plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

The companion survey of 508 adults in southeast Michigan was conducted at the same time and had a margin of error of 5 percentage points. Muslim advocacy groups monitoring cases of harassment and unfair treatment by law enforcing agencies say that the Muslims are becoming increasingly worried about the situation in the United States.

The groups say that what they confront in the American society is a by product of the Bush administration's policies. The researchers found a wide gap in views on how Arab Americans should be treated in the anti-terrorism struggle.

Forty-nine per cent of the general population said in a parallel survey that they would support increasing surveillance of Arab Americans. Seventeen per cent of the Arabs and Chaldeans agreed.

Similarly, 41 per cent of the general population would uphold Arab American detention even without enough evidence to prosecute and 23 per cent said they would favor increased police power to stop and search Arab Americans.