The Image of Palestine in the US Press 1919

Abstract

Press play a crucial role in studying the process of creating the USA’s public perception of the State of Palestine of 1919. Newspapers and magazines enable a researcher to define the distinctive features of the ‘Other’ profile. The reconstructing and explaining of the Palestinian public image from the point of the traditional historical research methods prove insufficient. Being a peculiar phenomenon of American social, political, and cultural life, Palestine’s public conception requires an interdisciplinary examinational approach based on historical imagology. In 1919, there were three models of the State’s future under discussion in the US periodical literature. The first one considered it as two separate countries; the second one – as one Arabic-Jewish country; the third one – as the territory under control of the United Kingdom. Journalists raised questions regarding each of the models evolving representation of the political system in The Middle East: the prospects of the colonial institution; transferring from Colonialism to Postcolonialism; opportunities of applying the experience of Colonial Empires. Studying an informational discourse of the USA in 1919 will allow us to compile a comprehensive list of public images of the State of Palestine and the Middle East (from the territorial as well as political point of view); monitor their evolution, and discover its structural components.