| Publication |
2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Among multiple aspects of Israeli dominance over the Palestinians from
both sides of the Green Line, the ideological one appears as the single most
spectacular failure. Members of the Israeli establishment readily acknowledge
the notorious inefficiency of the Israeli public relations campaign in
Arabic.1 Although the Israeli Broadcast Authority (IBA) maintains radio
and TV broadcasts-and even attempted for a short while to launch a
Middle East Satellite Channel (2002-2005)-the overall impact of these
efforts on shaping Palestinian or, more generally, Arab public opinion
is negligible.2 The reasons for this failure are not difficult to assess: even
for the most sophisticated public relations campaign it would be difficult
to market Israel to the hostile Palestinian and Arab audience, particularly
to those who are direct victims of either occupation or discrimination.
But does this mean that efforts to present Israeli viewpoints to the Arab
public are meaningless and intrinsically doomed? To examine this
supposition, this article will analyze one of the most interesting attempts
of the Israeli authorities to communicate with the Palestinians through a
printed medium: the first seven years of the seventeen-year long life of
al-Anbaa (The News) newspaper (1968-1985).
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