Peace polls first appeared in 1996 by the British researcher Colin Irwin, at that time Ireland was suffering from internal conflicts, when Colin decided with a number of researchers to launch an opinion poll to help stop the fighting. Indeed, peace polls played an important role in peacemaking in Northern Ireland, where eight public opinion surveys were conducted to support the peace process between April 1996 and May 2000. These surveys have played the most prominent role in determining the issues of interest to the conflicting parties and knowing their opinions regarding the situation and how It should be, thus finding the points of consensus in order to build on them, consequently reaching a solution that is acceptable for all.
Peace polls were used in many other conflicts, such as in the Balkans, Serbia, Darfur, and others. Although the ultimate goal of the peace polls was not achieved by reaching a solution that would end the conflict on many issues, yet it had a positive impact and contributed to advancing negotiations and peacebuilding.
Peace polls are defined as opinion polls conducted in conflict zones and designed to measure the public’s views and opinions on a particular topic or a series of controversial topics, in order to seek common ground to enable the conflicting parties to build a consensus out of the conflict situation, which contributes to greater political stability and economic prosperity and increases the degree of social cohesion.
THE INTEGRATION BETWEEN THE IDPs AND THE HOST COMMUNITY IN IDLEB CITY
Based on the main objective of peace polls, which is to promote the values of coexistence and find solutions to the problems that increase tensions within the community in addition to overcoming the obstacles that would increase the state of division, this study was conducted within the city of Idlib and among the members of the host community and IDPs from different Syrian regions, to identify the main problems experienced by both parties that hinder the integration of the IDPs people within the community, and learn about each party’s desires from the other in order to ease the tension, if existed.