An Iraqi child walks through a displacement camp Saturday, June 28, in Khazair, Iraq. Vast swaths of northern Iraq, including the cities of Mosul and Tal Afar, have fallen as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, advances toward Baghdad, the capital. The ISIS militants want to establish a caliphate, or Islamic state, in the region, stretching from Iraq into northern Syria. 
An Iraqi woman walks with her child outside of a displacement camp on June 28 in Khazair, now home to an estimated 1,500 internally displaced persons. 
Peshmerga fighters, or Kurdish warriors, check cars at the entrance to a temporary displacement camp in Khazair, Iraq, for people caught in the fighting in and around the city of Mosul on Thursday, June 26. 
A group of women wait outside the temporary displacement camp in Khazair on June 26. 
Smoke rises in the Karakus district of Mosul as clashes between Iraqi forces and ISIS militants on June 26. 
Food is handed out at the displacement camp in Khazair. 
A child walks over discarded water bottles and trash at a registration area at the displacement camp in Khazair on June 26. 
Kurdish Peshmerga take their positions behind a wall on the front line of the conflict with ISIS militants in Tuz Khormato, Iraq, on Wednesday, June 25. 
Peshmerga fighters clean their weapons at a base in Tuz Khormato, Iraq, on June 25. 
Female Peshmerga between 18 and 45 years old form a special unit that is called to serve in any conditions. A soldier is pictured here on June 25. 
A woman gathers bread in a temporary displacement camp for Iraqis caught up in the fighting in and around Mosul on Tuesday, June 24. 
An ISIS fighter takes control of a traffic intersection in Mosul on Sunday, June 22. 
An ISIS member distributes a copy of the Quran, Islam's holy book, to a driver in Mosul on June 22. 
Members of ISIS patrol in Falluja, 40 miles west of Baghdad, on Saturday, June 21. 
Volunteers raise their weapons and chant slogans during a parade in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City, Baghdad, on Saturday, June 21. 
Iraqi men register to volunteer to fight alongside security forces against Sunni Muslim militants and jihadists on Friday, June 20, at a recruitment center in Baghdad. 
New Iraqi army recruits gather in Najaf on Wednesday, June 18, following a call for Iraqis to take up arms against Islamic militant fighters. 
Soldiers with an Iraqi anti-terrorism unit are on guard June 18 in Baghdad. 
A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter injured in clashes with members of ISIS lies in a hospital in Irbil on June 18. 
An MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter lands on the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday, June 17. The carrier moved into the region to give President Barack Obama has said. 
Newly recruited Iraqi volunteer fighters take part in a training session in Karbala on June 17. 
Iraqi tribesmen gather in Baghdad on Monday, June 16, to show their readiness to join Iraqi security forces in the fight against Islamic militants. 
Iraqi Christian children gather inside the Church of the Virgin Mary for prayers in Bartala, Iraq, a town near Mosul, on Sunday, June 15. Militants seized Mosul last week, reportedly leading more than 500,000 people to flee Iraq's second-largest city. 
Shiite tribal fighters raise their weapons and chant slogans against ISIS in Basra, Iraq, on June 15. 
Members of ISIS prepare to execute some soldiers from Iraq's security forces in this image, one of many reportedly posted by the militant group online. CNN cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the images. 
A woman cradles her baby Thursday, June 12, at a temporary camp set up in Aski Kalak, Iraq, to shelter those fleeing the violence in northern Nineveh province. 
A girl fleeing from Mosul arrives at a Kurdish checkpoint on June 12. 
Iraqi men chant slogans outside of an army recruiting center to volunteer for military service June 12 in Baghdad. 
Kurdish Peshmerga forces, along with Iraqi special forces, deploy their troops and armored vehicles outside of Kirkuk, Iraq, on June 12. 
Children stand next to a burnt vehicle during clashes between Iraqi security forces and ISIS militants in Mosul on Tuesday, June 10. 
Civilians from Mosul escape to a refugee camp near Irbil, Iraq, on June 10. 
Iraqis fleeing the violence wait in their vehicles at a Kurdish checkpoint in Aski Kalak on June 10. 
- A poll of 14 Muslim-majority nations show people are more opposed to extremism
- Frida Ghitis: The results are startling and highly encouraging for long-term peace
- She says Muslims are turning against groups that support violence and terrorism
- Ghitis: Extremists are still making territorial gains, but their ideology is losing ground
Editor's note: Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist for the Miami Herald and World Politics Review. A former CNN producer and correspondent, she is the author of "The End of Revolution: A Changing World in the Age of Live Television." Follow her on Twitter @FridaGhitis. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- It's time for some good news from the Middle East. The region is a tangle of sectarian bloodshed, territorial clashes and ideological disputes. But there is one bright light, an important, positive development that we should pause to appreciate.
A recent poll of 14 Muslim-majority countries by the Pew Research Center has come up with startling, highly encouraging results: Muslims are becoming increasingly opposed to extremism.
Muslims are turning against organizations that support violence and terrorism. Public approval for suicide bombings is way down, and so is support for the likes of al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas and Boko Haram.
It's a dramatic change from the days just after 9/11 when any Westerner traveling through the Muslim Middle East and Asia could see troubling signs. I remember the Osama bin Laden T-shirts flying off the shelves in the bazaars, the burning Twin Towers shirts hawked by street vendors, the jaw-dropping conversations, even with some educated people who found justification for every manner of terrorist activity.
At long last, that ideology is significantly receding. While extremists are making territorial gains, their ideology is losing ground. They are losing the war of ideas.
In 2003, al Qaeda's Osama bin Laden was one of the most trusted leaders in the Muslim world. Support for bin Laden was particularly strong among Palestinians, Jordanians and Pakistanis. In 2004, a survey showed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was the most admired man in the Middle East. The Islamist Palestinian group Hamas, which has carried out and claimed responsibility for dozens of suicide bombings, once enjoyed strong popular support of the Palestinian population.
Now all of them -- bin Laden, Hezbollah and Hamas -- have seen their popularity plummet.
The new survey was taken in the spring, before ISIS swept into Iraq from Syria and before the latest outbreak of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
Favorable views of al Qaeda are scarce. Unfavorable views stand at 96% in Lebanon, 85% in Turkey, 83% in Jordan, 81% in Egypt and 42% in Pakistan. The highest level of approval is found in the Palestinian territories, at 25%. Researchers found antipathy toward al Qaeda among Christians, Muslims and Jews.
The Islamist Boko Haram, whose name became internationally known after kidnapping hundreds of schoolgirls, is despised by more than 80% of Nigerians.
Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia, maintains strong support among Lebanon's Shiites, but majorities see it unfavorably in Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories and elsewhere.
Hamas, whose rejectionist stance against Israel has a tendency to increase its popularity during times of strife, may be enjoying a boost during the current upsurge in violence, but its image has deteriorated greatly overall. Large majorities had unfavorable views of Hamas in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Even in the Palestinian territories, the majority said it had a negative opinion of the group.
Not only are terrorist groups losing hearts and minds, more Muslims are rejecting their methods.
A dozen years ago, Pew asked Muslims around the world if they thought suicide bombings could be justified in defense of Islam. The results were depressing.
In Lebanon, for example, 73% said yes. Two years later, in 2004, when asked whether suicide bombings against Westerners in Iraq were justified, majorities said yes in Morocco and Jordan, which are relatively moderate countries. In most countries, even when majorities disapproved, there were large numbers that would not reject that particularly vile method of murder.
Since then, the suicide bombers have expanded their targets and gone from killing Americans and Israelis to massacring other Muslims in Iraq, Jordan, Pakistan, Syrian, Nigeria, Indonesia and many other places. Islamic extremism has been morphing from an ideological rallying cry to a brutally oppressive fighting force in many parts of the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
The percentage who thought suicide bombings can be justified to defend Islam "often" or "sometimes" was just 3% in Pakistan, where 83% said "never." In Tunisia it was 5%, with 90% saying never. In Israel, 16% of Israeli Muslims said it can be justified, 48% said never.
In the Palestinian Territories 46% said it could be justified, the numbers were higher in Gaza (52%) than in the West Bank (36%).
The refusal to reject suicide terrorism is still too high in some places, but the general trend is positive and significant.
When ISIS started to broadcast images of the mass murder its forces are committing in Iraq, it was sowing the seeds of its own destruction. Rejection happens the moment terrorists kill close to home, turning supporters into opponents. Similarly, in Jordan, admiration for bin Laden plummeted in 2005 after a series of suicide bombings killed scores of people in the capital.
Public opinion polls don't translate into battlefield success or electoral victories that sweep murderous extremists from power. But the latest survey gives us hope.
Despite the relentless barrage of horrible news and the unending human misery in the Middle East, the tide of public opinion is moving away from extremism. That can only count as a much-needed encouraging sign for a long-term future of reconciliation, when radicalism will be rejected and peace can return.
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