Two Stories for Two Nations: Public Diplomacy in the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict

Abstract

ABSTRACTA substantial part of asymmetric conflicts is the “image war” that takes place in the foreign media. This study examines the circumstances that explain the degree to which political actors successfully promote their preferred frames regarding the conflict in which they are involved to the foreign press. The study examines Israel and the Palestinians’ ability to promote their messages in various events over the last decade. Seven factors were examined, divided into three groups: focal event factors, political context factors, and message context factors. Separate examination of each predictor, followed by analysis of their shared effect, reveals that most factors have an impact on how successful political actors are at promoting their preferred frames to the foreign press. Our findings suggests that the media place greater emphasis on focal event factors when covering conflicts, and that events have a greater impact than cultural assumptions in terms of how foreign media frame news stories.