The discourse of war in the Middle East: Analysis of media reporting

Language war1, reflects the power of each side in a conflict. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the language of the Israelis and the Palestinians mirrors the strengths and weaknesses of both sides. Data were collected from the headlines reported in the local and world media at times of crises and major reported events during the second Palestinian Intifada (2001–2004). The analysis investigates the kinds of speech acts reported in the media showing aggressive or defensive attitudes and focuses on Threats and Appeals,2 together with related illocutionary verbs. The context of war and animosity will furnish the felicity conditions for the investigated speech acts. Results show that the Israelis, as the more powerful side in this conflict, use many more Threats than do the Palestinians. Conversely, many more Appeals are used by the Palestinians, which reflects their weakness.