Time and again, American presidents, in the assessment of their term of office, have had to measure what progress they achieved in the Middle East peace process. No matter how this solution may look in the end, it is almost inconceivable without any involvement from the US.

Secondly, it refers to Germany which has increasingly become a publicly relevant and well-known actor in Israel, not least due to its military cooperation and the huge recognition which Angela Merkel enjoys in Israel. Germany, however, also traditionally enjoys a high level of recognition and credibility amongst Palestinian decision-makers. Studies, such as the survey by the Foundation from December 2014, indicate that, alongside the USA, both sides desire a more active role from Germany and the country is perceived as an “honest broker” in the conflict.

Those who want a more detailed account of the relationship nexus, who want to evaluate the influence of the respective countries on the peace process, must not only look more closely at what the respective populations think about these actors but also at the interactions at play between these actors.

The time for such an examination is relevant for many reasons: The years 2014 and 2015 were shaped by debates about the looming Iran Nuclear Deal which had a significant impact on the Israeli-American relationship. The year 2016 is now already shaped by the 2016 presidential elections in the United States and the start of an election campaign in which the Middle East is a topic for discussion time and again. At the same time, the temporal background of this study is marked by the difficult security situation in this part of the world and the associated impact on Europe and not least on Germany with respect to the increasing flow of refugees.

With this study, the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and its offices in Israel and the Palestinian Territories draw on the success of its examination “the Holy Land and the Germans” which was presented in January 2015 on the anniversary year of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and Germany and it received wide publicity in the media and in academic discussions in both countries. This new survey provides the opportunity to draw on insights from the data which were compiled in December 2014 and to detect new developments on the basis of this.

This year the previous survey design will, however - in the context of the US elections - be complemented by an incredibly important new dimension. Alongside the survey in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, a representative survey was also carried out in the United States. The study was laid out in such a way that even particular statements could be made about the attitudes of Jewish Americans and Americans with an Arabic migration history.

Unchartered scientific territory will be discovered once again with this comprehensive study. Indeed, studies have been developed time and again which focused on individual aspects of this theme such as for example regular surveys of American Jews about their attitude towards Israeli politics. The American-Palestinian relationship is also continually subject to examination. Previously, there has never been a related study that provides an opportunity for direct comparison with coordinated questionnaires and that deals intensively with the Israeli and Palestinian view on Germany and on the USA as well as the perspectives of the American population on the Middle East and the role of Germany.