National Stereotypes as Weapons in the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Abstract

Nations in conflict generally internalize a stereotype of their enemy that consists exclusively of evil or contemptible characteristics, but, on the other hand, of themselves and their allies as possessors of the best human qualities. In the battle to win the hearts and minds of world public opinion, each side attempts to transmit its own stereotypes of the other to third parties, and the result may well be to influence the policies of the latter. It is, for example, questionable whether the United States government, in the face of a massive threat to US economic and other interests in the Arab world, would have pursued its pro-Israeli policy of the past years, had its leaders not had to reckon with a powerfuil Zionist lobby, capable of bringing great public pressure to bear on the government to pursue this line of policy.