Representation of Gaza Conflict in Iranian & American Press

This essay explores the linguistic differences in how Iranian and American newspapers represent the Gaza conflict. It delves into the historical and theoretical background of the conflict, examining how language is used to frame narratives and present particular viewpoints. The study analyzes newspaper articles, focusing on the representation of Palestinian armed groups, Hamas, and Israel, using critical discourse analysis and sociolinguistics. The research aims to understand the impact of politics and ideology on media reporting, highlighting the contrasting approaches of Iranian and American news outlets in portraying the same events. Desklib provides access to similar essays and resources for students.

Table of Contents
Abstract......................................................................................................................................1
1.0 Introduction & Aim..............................................................................................................2
1.1 Aim-.................................................................................................................................4
1.2 Research Questions..........................................................................................................4
2.0 Background..........................................................................................................................4
2.1 Historical Background.....................................................................................................4
2.2 Theoretical Background...................................................................................................6
2.3 Contemporary Scenario....................................................................................................8
3.0 Design of the Study............................................................................................................10
4.0 Results................................................................................................................................12
4.1 Representation of Palestinian armed and unarmed groups............................................12
4.2 Hamas presented as a terrorist organisation...................................................................13
4.3 Israel’s representation as an aggressor...........................................................................15
5.0 Discussion..........................................................................................................................17
6.0 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................21
References................................................................................................................................24

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Abstract
The objective of this paper is to understand the difference in the way various incidents of the
Gaza conflict is reported in the American and Iranian newspapers. The Gaza conflict is a
long-drawn struggle between Israel and Palestine which is one of the most reported conflicts
in international media. Various newspaper articles are analysed to understand the difference
in the way the events are reported in different media. The findings are based on the
comparison of the language and presentation of news in various media.

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1.0 Introduction & Aim
There is much ideological difference between the policies of the western media and
the Middle Eastern media (Brüggemann et al., 2014). Essentially the western world is liberal
and the media is liberally outspoken, whereas the Middle Eastern media is conservative and
most of times follows the state policies and religious decrees. The Gaza conflict is a long-
drawn struggle that has been historically going on between the Palestinian state and Israel.
The main ground of the conflict lies at the Gaza strip. Often it is reported in the media how
armed conflict is going on in the region (Brantner, Lobinger & Wetzstein, 2011). There are
Palestinian terrorist groups such as Hamas, Fatah, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation and
others. The objective of all these organisations are to make an independent Palestinian State,
either over the whole of Israel or over a large area greater than the present Gaza Strip.
The American newspapers claim to report the conflict in an impartial manner,
however often it is seen that the media reports sometimes come in favour of Israel. Again the
newspapers in the Middle East and the Iranian newspapers often show great partiality
towards the Palestinian cause. The same incidents are reported in different news media in
completely different tone (Fowler, 2013). The language in which the news is reported
changes the dynamics of reporting. Apart from that some of the newspapers of Israel and
Palestine are also analyzed taking into consideration, the reports based on the conflict.
There are various linguistic theories that can be applied to understand the impact of
the language and the various objectives behind the use of such language. In fact linguistic is
the science of understanding the purpose of expressing similar facts in different terms. One of
the approach to the study of language is the Critical Discourse Analysis in which language is
seen more as a social practice and custom rather than viewing language as a strict mechanical
tool for interpersonal communication. The scholars working with this approach generally

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state that there is a relation between social practices which are non-linguistic and the spoken
or written language of a particular society. The power relations in the society are reinforced
through usage of language. Therefore, it cannot be strictly referred as a language theory but
also a social theory which weighs social power relationships through the usage of language.
The language that is used in the newspapers have typical linguistic features that can be
distinctively separated from the language used in the books and journals, this is mainly
because the newspapers use language in order to establish a particular point of view. This is
especially true in societies which are driven by religion. The newspapers which have a
particular ideology endeavour in establishing those by using language in particular way.
Sociolinguistic theory is a similar theory that combines the causes and effects of
language in social context, and what is the effect of a particular society on language and
linguistics. The usage of language and method of expression varies between several social
groups and the way that social group has evolved with time and the major events that are
associated with that particular social group. The social groups can constitute of religious
groups, or ethnic groups and similar other divisions. In the societies that are dominated by
religious philosophies, the news media is also seen to be having partisan views about various
issues. Israel and Palestine, both of these nations are established by religious and scriptural
historical injunctions. The newspapers cannot escape the influence of religion and ethnicity
while reporting incidents from these regions.
The American policy has been to provide moral support to Israel in its struggle with
the terrorist organisations of the Gaza strip, on the other hand the Iranian and other Middle
Eastern newspapers have been historically supporting the Palestinian cause of a greater
Palestinian territory. Therefore, the newspapers of these countries had adopted a similar
policy of reporting the incidents in language that serves the policy of the nation. The aim is to

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understand the pattern in which language is used to establish a particular viewpoint as the
truth by the newspapers in terms of Palestine and Israel conflict, and the view of the
1.1 Aim- The aim of this study is to investigate linguistic features of newspapers in
USA and Iran depending on their coverage of the conflict at Gaza.
1.2 Research Questions-
 How linguistic features are used by the newspapers in Iran and USA to
represent conflicts in Gaza between Palestine and Israel?
 How does politics impact the linguistic features and usage of language
in the media of USA and Iran while reporting the Israel and Palestine
Conflict?
2.0 Background
The background of the research is divided into three parts, which are Historical
Background, Theoretical background and Contemporary scenario. The historical background
discusses about the various historical events that has resulted in the situation that prevails
today in the area. The theoretical background on the other hand explains theoretical concepts
about the present scenario at the region and how the US and Iranian newspapers use language
in their newspaper reports to depict the stories from their view point.
2.1 Historical Background
History
The conflict at the Gaza strip has a long historical context. The Holocaust during the
World War II had been the killing field of the Jewish in which more than six million of the
Jewish population were killed, this resulted in a worldwide desire from the Jewish
community to have their own country. The Palestinian land was considered by them as their

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traditional mother land, this was because the scriptures of the Jewish people have such
mentions. Therefore they wanted to settle in this land which was not agreed by the Arab
Muslim population already living there. There was a war in which large part of the
Palestinian state was now declared as Jewish territory. The Gaza strip was the land where the
previous Muslim Palestinians settled. Various armed organizations had been engaging in
trying to win back the old Palestinian land (Hirsch-Hoefler et al., 2016). Hamas controls
larger part of the Palestine and their aim is to radically reestablish the previous political
system. This aim is also supported by Iran as a state policy and that is reflected by the
newspaper reports and the language of the reports in Iranian newspapers.
The cause of Palestine as a nation has been one of the most used political agendas of
Iran. The famous speech of Ayatollah Khomeini’s “Islamic Unity” underlines the need of
Iran’s support to the Palestinian cause and there were underlining anti-Israel narrative in the
speech and also defending the western powers from interfering with the internal policies of
the Islamic nations in the Middle East and other parts of the world. The official position of
Iran has been to put the Islamic countries of the Middle East at one side of history and the
United States and Israel on the other side. These are the two camps which are at loggerheads
to establish their own control over the struggle on the Palestinian nation. The problem
between the two camps has resulted in the international community being divided into two
groups who support the either camps. There are various camps of media observers and
academic thinkers who have analyzed the ways in which the western media, especially the
American media has reported the conflict, and the levels of bias that characterizes the media
reports. However there has been lesser research on the nonwestern media and those of the
Middle Eastern countries (Gelvin, 2014). This paper endeavors in analyzing the American
along with the Iranian newspapers to understand the difference in the linguistics of reporting.

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Angell (2010) investigates the novel discretionary and vital connection between the
United States and Israel. Looking at an extensive variety of money related, institutional, and
ideological elements that have been perceived as being compelling in the U.S.' being
determined to extend help for Israel, researchers point to the lopsided media portrayal of the
Israel Palestinian Conflict in the type of Israeli victimhood and Palestinian animosity: The
American media scope of Israel has a tendency to be unequivocally one-sided to support
Israel, particularly when contrasted and news scope in different majority rules systems. A key
piece of protecting positive open states of mind toward Israel is to guarantee that the
prevailing press scope reliably supports Israel and does not call U.S. bolster into question in
any way… (Mearsheimer & Walt, 2012).
Present Situation
In February 2005 Israel, the Palestinian National Authority, Hamas and Islamic Jihad
focused on a truce, which as indicated by a few imprints end to the Second Intifada. The
second Intifada which is also known as the Al Aqsa Intifada. This began in late 2000, and the
reason shown by the activists was the Israeli occupation on Palestinian land. This began with
the incident when Ariel Sharon and the Israeli police force entered Palestinian mosque.
However Palestinian suicide bombings against Israelis kept after the February truce, and
opposite end-dates and in addition an uncertain end period have been proposed by others
(Allen, 2012).
Simultaneous to the Second Intifada, Israeli PM Ariel Sharon proposed the Israeli
withdrawal from Gaza in 2003, which was endorsed by the Israeli government in June 2004,
and the Knesset in February 2005. The one-sided withdrawal design was executed in August
2005 and finished in September 2005. Nonetheless, the UN and different human rights

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organizations consider Israel still to be the accepted possessing power because of its control
of Gaza's outskirts, air space and regional waters (Jaeger et al., 2012)
The next year Hamas won a larger part of seats in the Palestinian authoritative
decisions. The result ruffled Israel, the United States and the Quartet, and they requested
Hamas acknowledge every past assention, perceive Israel's entitlement to exist, and revoke
brutality; when Hamas refused, they stopped aids to the Palestinian Authority. In mid-2006
an Israeli warrior was caught by Hamas in a cross-fringe strike. The United States, in light of
Fatah moves in October 2006 to shape a solidarity government with Hamas, endeavored to
fix the races by equipping Fatah to oust Hamas in Gaza. In June 2007 Hamas appropriated
the overthrow endeavour and took control of the Gaza strip. This worsened the situation and
the operation protective edge was launched targeting the Hamas controlled Gaza strip. (Pappe
et al., 2013)
Hughes (2004) states that character and interests of human beings are interwoven and
indivisible ideas, currently strengthening each other. In such manner, character claims
illuminate interests, which features the political idea of distinguishing proof and development
of Self and Other. For instance, Ayatollah Khomeini's call for supporting the freedom of
Palestine as an "Islamic obligation" shared by all Muslims is an acknowledgment of both
political interests and personality governmental issues at the same time. By rising above past
the limits of the country state and focusing on the Islamic standards of solidarity and
fraternity inside the Muslim people group, Khomeini figured out how to move the container
Arab talk beforehand lead by Arab states to a container Islamic one. In doing as such, from
one perspective he recovered the Muslim personality and declared himself as "a definitive
pioneer of mistreated countries." On the other hand, with calling for supporting the
persecuted countries, he figured out how to assemble bolster and secure impact inside
Muslim people group and to additionally grow the Iran’s political impact in the district and in

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the worldwide setting (Reda 2016). Personality movements can likewise happen in view of
changes in socio-political interests. For instance, the Iran’s authentic talk portrays Israel and
Zionism as a pioneer venture composed by the U.S. to satisfy colonialist interests in the
locale and to abuse Muslims; consequently the thrashing of Israel and the U.S. is an ethical
Islamic obligation concerning all Muslims. In any case, Iran shows a very key and even
minded approach toward Israel and the United States, with strategic bargains regularly
veering off from ideological hard-line encounters. The McFarlane embarrassment (as the
Iran-Contra Affair is brought in Iran) is an early case in which it is uncovered that there were
undisclosed transactions amongst Iran and the U.S. for a long time beginning 1986; another
illustration is the U.S. arms manage Iran through Israel amid the Iran-Iraq war: a period when
the counter west and hostile to U.S. suppositions were significantly more grounded in Iran
then than they are today. In like manner, Iran's atomic arrangement is the most recent case
showing a noteworthy move in the its hostile to U.S. political talk which rotated around
strategic boycotting of Israel and the United States. These cases indicate how the Iran
organizes its survival and political interests in pivotal minutes, regardless of whether that
implied ignoring the counter west, against Israel character of the legislature (Feldman, 2012).
In 2014 the conflict reached a new height when there was a military operation that
was conducted by Israel on Gaza strip took place, and there are widespread reports in the
media after the violent incident (Kampf & Liebes, 2013). This mainly happened after three
Israelis were kidnapped and murdered by Hamas. A huge number of people were killed from
both the sides and the news was reported widely all over the media.
2.2 Theoretical Background
Critical Discourse Analysis

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Linguistic features are very important in terms of delivering news in the way desired
by the media house (Gee, 2014). It is often seen that the same news is reported in various
media in contradicting languages which completely changes the way news is perceived.
Linguistic is the study of the nature of language and how the varied use of language helps in
creating dimensions of meaning within the same framework. Morphology is important in the
case of the newspapers (Eckart, Riester & Schweitzer, 2012). Morphology is the systematic
process in which the words are put so that they form a relationship with each other and a
meaning can be derived in totality. The usage of the words in the news reports play important
role in shaping the whole meaning of the news (Van Dijk, 2013). Therefore it can be said that
systematic review of the morphological characteristic of the language used in the newspapers
can reveal the intentions in which such language is used.
Critical Discourse analysis views language as a social practice which mainly studies
how language have an impact on society and vice versa. Social practices and the Linguistic
practices are directly related to each other and in this particular case it is seen that the social
situation of both Iran and USA directly impact their view on the conflict of Palestine and
Israel and how such conflicts are represented through linguistics. It will be seen that there are
certain words that are used by the Iranian media to portray Israel in the conflict which are
negative and in the American newspaper Palestine and Hamas is largely portrayed as
“terrorist”. Therefore the social belief of America is reflected in such terms such as
“terrorists” and “radicals” which again shape the further social belief in the USA society.
Therefore Critical Discourse Analysis gives a clear idea about the social belief and
perceptions.
Media Representation

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In most of the western media Hamas is accepted largely as a terrorist organization;
however, the Palestinian and Iranian newspapers often regard this as an authentic political
organization. Dunsky (2008) states that the foreign policy of the United States that has been
to constantly support the Israeli side is the reason that there is an imbalance of coverage about
the struggle in the United States media reports. There is a lack from the side of the public that
would bring the necessary changes in the way the incidents are reported in the western media.
This can be one reason why still such one-sided reporting is continuing in the American
media.
Likewise in Covering Islam, many authors addresses the issue of distortion in
covering the Israel and Palestinian Conflict in U.S. media. They contends the United States'
remote arrangement in the Middle East, and its solid connections to Israel, are the
explanations behind American media outlets' propensity to cover the conflict with what they
call a "subliminal awareness" of U.S. political enthusiasm, something characterizes as
presses' cooperation in "American power" which thus makes its autonomy subordinate to
certain outflows of steadfastness and patriotism. The portrayal of Palestinians delineate them
as "unfriendly individuals of uncivilised catagory" with "neither history nor humankind".
Composing years after the fact, in “American Zionism? The Real Problem” (2001), Edward
Said contends that the media distortion of the Middle East area has been essentially fortified
in the repercussions of the 9/11 and consequent to the U.S. mediation of Afghanistan (Said,
2003). In conjunction with U.S. remote approach in the locale, media adds to the
development of open information and the upkeep of political the present state of affairs.
Media complicity with government arrangements is connected to household strategy too,
however, this structure is especially obvious in portrayal of the American outside
arrangements: "remote news announcing enables the effective to assemble popular
supposition behind the essential objectives of approaches on which most Americans have

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little data. In this part, news media is in charge of the arrangement of learning about the
locale to people in general customers In 2003, Vizer directed a similar investigation of the
New York Times and the Israeli daily paper Haaretz that exhibits that the New York Times
has an all the more ace Israeli inclination in its scope of the contention than Haaretz. Like the
researchers already said, Vizer joins the New York Times' professional Israeli inclination to
the United States' part in the connection between Israel and Palestine as the most capable
main impetus behind the contention. In a comparable report, Hila Raz (2008) looks at CNN's
scope to demonstrate how ties between the administration and the media impact encircling of
the IPC. As indicated by Raz's (2008) discoveries CNN has a fundamental Israeli
concentration and inactive American inclination in its treatment of the Israel Palestine issue,
with CNN's detailing being strikingly like U.S. outside strategy.
3.0 Design of the Study
The primary method of the study is to collect news stories that has the theme of the
conflict at Gaza mainly during the 2014. Therefore the research deals with secondary data.
The articles of the news story are mainly collected from newspapers from Iran and USA. The
articles are retrieved from the online archives of the newspapers which are taken for the
research work. The method of research included in the process is keywords search in the
internet and going through the news reports. The keywords are as follows “Gaza”, “Gaza
conflict”, “Palestine”, “Israel”, and “Palestine Israel Conflicts”. The primary newspapers that
are chosen for the study from Iran are “The Tehran Times” and “The Iran Daily”, and the
ones from America are “New York Times” and “Wall Street Journal. The time period for
investigation is the news articles which appeared in the said newspapers in the last 7 years.
The scope of the materials stretch from all the news directly related to the conflict to the
associated news that provides additional information.