Discourse in a Confrontational Situation: The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

OAlogo

Mohammed Farrah

English Department, Faculty of Arts – Hebron University, Palestine, E-mail: mfarrah06@gmail.com and  mfarrah@hebron.edu

Abstract

The aim of the article is to shed light on ongoing situation about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the lenses of newspaper heading analysis. Newspapers manipulate newspapers heading to persuade and influence public opinion so that political actions may be carried out. Unfortunately, such manipulation can lead to drastic consequences such as violent solutions. Through discourse analysis this study compares and contrasts different newspapers and magazines headlines of the Palestinian Israeli conflict. The researcher has used these newspapers and magazines to show attitudinal differences as reflected in discourses of the newspapers. The researcher collected his data from newspapers and magazines through the Internet. The newspapers and the magazines belong to two communities, each of which has its point of view regarding the conflict. Four major key concepts have emerged in the data: OCCUPATION, TERRORISM, SETTLEMENTS, and PEACE PROCESS. Through talking about these concepts and events, analysis of news headlines, grammatical and lexical metaphor, euphemism, stereotypes, and other rhetoric and linguistic devices are used to achieve intentions.

Keywords: Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Language, Newspaper headlines, Critical Discourse Analysis, Representations of Palestinians.

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