| ID | 171676 |
| Title Proper | Demopath’s Lexicon |
| Other Title Information | a guide to Western journalism between the river and the sea |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Landes, Richard |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | This article examines a double discourse by the Palestinian leadership, one in English and one in Arabic, which plays a central role in their negotiating strategy with Israel since the onset of the Oslo ‘peace process’ (1993). Using language very close to Western terminology, Palestinians in English speak of ‘Occupation’ and ‘Settlements’ with the 1967 borders as the defining issue; while in Arabic, they speak of ‘Occupation’ and ‘Settlements’ in terms of the 1948 borders (i.e., all of Israel is an ‘Occupation’ and Tel Aviv is an illegal ‘settlement’). As a zero-sum negotiating strategy this makes perfect sense: convince Israel to concede ‘land for peace’ (1967 borders), when in reality this means ‘land for war’ (1967 borders as launching pad for war to 1948 borders). The western news media, allegedly committed to accurate reporting, shows no knowledge of the Arabic discourse and presents what Palestinians say in English as reliable reflections of their actions and intentions. As a result of this failure to identify the double-discourse, the Western legacy media presents Palestinian war propaganda as news to their Western audiences, unwittingly helping the Palestinians in their deception. |
| `In' analytical Note | Israel Affairs Vol. 26, No.3; Jun 2020: p.311-329 |
| Journal Source | Israel Affairs Vol: 26 No 3 |
| Key Words | Israel ; Western Media ; West Bank ; Propaganda ; Occupation ; Palestinian - Israeli Conflict ; Settlements ; Palestinians ; Oslo Peace Process |