Representations of International Involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in Israeli Media
Since its outbreak, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been shaped by international interventions, decisions and involvement. These forms of external engagement in the conflict are transmitted to Jewish Israelis primarily through Israeli mass media, which therefore shapes perceptions of the “global” attitudes towards the conflict.
The central question of my research then is how Israeli newspapers represent international involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
- How is it contextualized and how qualified?
- Do societal constructs and beliefs shape the medial representations and if so, in which manner?
- Do media representations differ in times of crisis and routine?
To answer these questions, a content analysis of the four general daily Israeli newspapers was conducted. The month of the Gaza flotilla raid in May 2010, killing nine Turkish activists, shaking the Israeli-Turkish relations, and receiving strong international reactions is chosen for the case study of crises coverage and is compared to one month of relative routine before and after the crisis respectively. The investigation is complemented by findings from observations in two of the four Israeli newspapers’ newsrooms, which were conducted at the end of the latest Gaza crisis in December 2012.
The relevance of this research is apparent in the high numbers of international correspondents across the region, numerous peace initiatives by several actors and governments, the attention paid to this conflict within the United Nations, and the potential for polarization. Accordingly, international sympathy and legitimization are of high relevance for the direct conflict parties. Therefore they engage in intense efforts to win support for their causes in a context of mediatized conflicts. Likewise, media representations of the character of international involvement do not only shape the images on the conflict parties’ standing but also influence and legitimize domestic political debates and decisions.
International polarization of the conflict goes along with a polarization of “the world” within Jewish Israeli society into categories such as “with or against us” and what Daniel Bar-Tal and Dikla Antebi call “siege mentality”: the conviction that the world is hostile towards Israel and that the latter will stand alone in case of emergency.
Intractable conflicts have strong impacts on societies entangled in them. In the field of political psychology Bar-Tal investigates beliefs those societies form. The ethos of conflict societies comprises a range of beliefs that both help affected people to “survive” and endure the conflict reality and likewise diminish the willingness to compromise. These beliefs include beliefs about security, justness of one’s own goals, delegitimization of the opponent, positive collective self-image, victimization, patriotism, unity, and peace. Beliefs serve as bases for narratives societies construct on events of present and past. They are formed, manifested, and challenged in cultural products. Therefore, the relations between media, recipients, and political actors is investigated within the concept of mediatization of politics, especially mediatization of conflicts. Narratives can be identified in media representations through frames, the perspectives taken on a certain aspect.
This research aims at showing how different kinds of involvement can be perceived and represented by Israeli newspapers, which is a highly relevant question when taking into account the amount of international involvement and polarization in this conflict as well as the meaning of international legitimization for the conflict parties. Understanding of these representations shall help advance research on possible ways for international involvement in regional conflicts.