Who is the Enemy?

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Abstract
This study focuses on the portrayal of Arabs in Israeli news during the beginning of the Palestinian Intifada. At that time, there was only one news television programme in Hebrew - Mabat - which was (and still is) owned by the state. This was the only source of information and images which constructed and represented Israel-Arab relations and legitimized the contemporary power structure. We have found after conducting a content analysis of 54 news broadcasts that coverage presented a negatively biased portrayal of all Arabs. Arabs tend to be underrepresented, unidentified by name or profession and engaged in oppositional activities. The coverage also distinguished the Palestinians from the other Arab groups in ways that tended to undermine or trivialize their struggle. This finding can be best understood in the context of a conflict between two nations where each is trying to draw the boundaries of its own `imagined community'.

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