ANALYSIS OF THE COVERAGE OF THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT IN BY AMERICAN MASS MEDIA ù 1 AUGUST 2002 THROUGH 31 JULY 2003: A PROPOSAL FOR RESEARCH
Three highly divisive forces at play globally in the contemporary period are nationalism, ethnicity, and religion. Such problems are exacerbated where religion, ethnicity, and nationalism interact. The longer such problems simmer, the more intractable they appear to become (Kurth, 2001). One such case involves the decades-long dispute between the Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East, where the Israelis and the Palestinians have been attempting to occupy the same real estate for centuries (Binder, 1999).
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been the focus of intensive negotiations for more than three decades. The objectives of all of the negotiations have been to find a solution acceptable to both the Israelis and the Palestinians. In spite of many promising efforts, such a solution has thus far eluded all of the negotiators (Gazit & Abington, 2001).
The Palestinian Intifada over the past two years, together with Israeli counter actions, causes the conflict to be in one of its hotter phases. Palestinians contend that the Intifada is a response to Israeli aggression and repression, while the Israelis contend that military actions by the Israeli Defense Force are in response to Palestinian terrorist acts.
The United States is affected directly by the conflict because that conflict holds implications for American interests in the region. American interests in the Middle East range from a crass need for natural resources to most worthy concerns for human dignity, with a whole host of other concerns than fall within the continuum. It is important, therefore, that American citizens have access to all information relevant to the issue in a format that is balanced and comprehensible upon which they can formulate opinions that, in the best of all worlds, will influence p...