EXPLORING THE DYNAMICS OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN SHAPING NARRATIVES AND PERCEPTIONS IN THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT: PRELIMINARY REFLECTIONS
Abstract
The enduring Israeli-Palestinian conflict has entered a new phase of narrative shaping with the advent of social media, profoundly influencing the dissemination of information and the dynamics of engagement. This article provides an examination of social media's influence on the conflict, offering insights into its dual capacity as a tool for both unity and division. Social media platforms have disrupted traditional media's gatekeeping role, enabling diverse voices to surface and grassroots narratives to gain international attention. These platforms empower activists and citizens to broadcast their experiences and mobilize support, yet they equally facilitate the spread of disinformation and incitement. Through a critical literature analysis, the paper explores the role these digital arenas play in shaping public opinion and influencing policy. It underscores the ethical challenges and weaponization potential of social media, while also considering its implications for future peace-making efforts. Conclusively, the article argues for the strategic and mindful use of social media, urging a balance between harnessing its power for constructive dialogue and mitigating its risks of exacerbating tensions. It underscores the importance of digital literacy and empathy in leveraging social media for a positive transformation in one of the world's most longstanding conflicts.
Keywords: Social media, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, public opinion, information dissemination, political narratives, peacebuilding
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Aday, S., Farrell, H., Lynch, M., Sides, J., & Freelon, D. (2010). Blogs and Bullets: New Media in Contentious Politics. United States Institute of Peace.
Arifuddin, M. T. (2022). Why Media, Women, and Children Cry in Palestine: The Case Study of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in May 2021. In ICGCS 2021: Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Gender, Culture and Society, ICGCS 2021, 30-31 August 2021, Padang, Indonesia (p. 480). European Alliance for Innovation.
Ayoub, H. H. (2023). Assessing Palestinian public diplomacy: Realities, challenges and opportunities. Global Media and Communication, 19(2), 207-223.
Bennett, W. L., & Segerberg, A. (2012). The Logic of Connective Action. Information, Communication & Society, 15(5), 739-768.
Birkner, T., Agbarya, A., Meyers, O., & Somerstein, R. (2022). The News Media and the Ever-Present Fear in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Media and the Dissemination of Fear: Pandemics, Wars and Political Intimidation, 129-152.
Cheeseman, N. (2018). How to rig an election. Yale University Press.
Chorev, H. (2019). Palestinian social media and lone-wolf attacks: subculture, legitimization, and epidemic. Terrorism and political violence, 31(6), 1284-1306.
David, Y., & Shalhoub-Kevorkian, N. (2023). Racializing human rights: political orientation, racial beliefs, and media use as predictors of support for human rights violations–a case study of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 1-25.
Frenkel, S. (2021). Lies on Social Media Inflame Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. International New York Times, NA-NA.
Friedman, E., & Herfroy-Mischler, A. (2020). The media framing of blame agency in asymmetric conflict: Who is blaming whom for the 2014 Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations failure?. Journalism Studies, 21(13), 1873-1892.
Garra-Alloush, I., & Magadley, W. (2022). War of Words: Virtualizing the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict on Facebook in Times of Crisis. Al-Majma: Studies in Arabic Language, Literature & Thought, (17).
Goldfield, N. (2023). Community-Based Health Interventions Are Critical for Peace Building in the Worsening Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Journal of Ambulatory Care Management, 46(2), 170-180.
Gonen, Y., Tenenboim-Weinblatt, K., & Kampf, Z. (2022). Mediating the opponent’s news: A study of inter-media citations in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Media, War & Conflict, 15(3), 334-352.
Howard, P. N., & Hussain, M. M. (2013). Democracy's fourth wave? Digital media and the Arab Spring. Oxford University Press.
Howard, P. N., Duffy, A., Freelon, D., Hussain, M. M., Mari, W., & Maziad, M. (2011). Opening Closed Regimes: What Was the Role of Social Media During the Arab Spring? Project on Information Technology & Political Islam.
Huda, M. N., Nurmandi, A., Qodir, Z., Sutan, A. J., & Utaminingsih, N. (2022). Social Media Role to Support Palestinian on Palestine—Israel Conflict (2021). In International Conference on Sustainable Innovation on Humanities, Education, and Social Sciences (ICOSI-HESS 2022) (pp. 901-913). Atlantis Press.
Khatib, L., Dutton, W., & Thelwall, M. (2012). Public Diplomacy 2.0: An Exploratory Case Study of the US Digital Outreach Team. The Middle East Journal, 66(3), 453-472.
Lachover, E. (2023). Negotiating between gender, national and professional identities: The work-experience of Israeli- Palestinian women journalists. Ethnicities, 14687968231173759.
Lehrs, L., Markus, D. K., Miodownik, D., Sheafer, T., & Shenhav, S. R. (2022). What Happens to Peace When the Process is Stalled: Competing International Approaches to the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict, 1996–2021. Journal of Global Security Studies, 7(2), ogac008.
Lewis, K. (2023). Platform necropolitics: Content moderation and censorship of pro-Palestinian voices on social media. Global Media Coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: Reporting the Sheikh Jarrah Evictions, 219.
Magdaci, O., Matalon, Y., & Yamin, D. (2022). Modeling the debate dynamics of political communication in social media networks. Expert Systems with Applications, 206, 117782.
Mahlouly, D. (2023). 14 Pro-Palestinian activism: Resisting the digital occupation Dounia Mahlouly and Zaina Erhaim. Global Media Coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: Reporting the Sheikh Jarrah Evictions.
Mana, A., Srour, A., & Sagy, S. (2019). A sense of national coherence and openness to the “other’s” collective narrative: The case of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 25(3), 226.
Morozov, E. (2011). The net delusion: The dark side of Internet freedom. Public Affairs.
Nelson, C. (2022). Does Academic Freedom Protect Antisemitism?—Part II: Social Media, Antizionism, and the End of Academic Freedom. Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism, 5(1), 85-92.
Oxford Analytica. (2023). Israeli-Palestinian war will break old assumptions. Emerald Expert Briefings, (oxan-db).
Panayotova, M., & Rizova, H. (2021). Online news media framing of the 2021 Israeli-Palestinian conflict by Al Jazeera, BBC and CNN.
Schejter, A. M., Shomron, B., Abu Jafar, M., Abu-Kaf, G., Mendels, J., Mola, S., & Tirosh, N. (2023). Social Networking Applications: Facebook and West Bank Palestinian Activists. In Digital Capabilities: ICT Adoption in Marginalized Communities in Israel and the West Bank (pp. 109-123). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Shirky, C. (2011). The Political Power of Social Media: Technology, the Public Sphere, and Political Change. Foreign Affairs, 90(1), 28-41.
Spitka, T. (2023). Children as Victims and Activists in the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict. In National and International Civilian Protection Strategies in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (pp. 107-136). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Strovsky, D., & Schleifer, R. (2021). Playing with Information: The Israeli‐Palestinian Conflict in the Russian Press. Middle East Policy, 28(1), 105-122.
Tufekci, Z. (2017). Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest. Yale University Press.
UNDP. (2019). Social Media for Peacebuilding and Statebuilding. United Nations Development Programme
Yarchi, M., & Ayalon, A. (2023). Fighting over the image: the Israeli− Palestinian conflict in the Gaza strip 2018− 19. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 46(2), 123-136.
Youmans, W. L., & York, J. C. (2012). Social Media and the Activist Toolkit: User Agreements, Corporate Interests, and the Information Infrastructure of Modern Social Movements. Journal of Communication, 62(2), 315-329.
Zur, H., & Hatuka, T. (2023). Local–Digital Activism: Place, Social Media, Body, and Violence in Changing Urban Politics. Social Media+ Society, 9(2), 20563051231166443
Published
2023-11-23
How to Cite
Kokeyo , A. (2023). EXPLORING THE DYNAMICS OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN SHAPING NARRATIVES AND PERCEPTIONS IN THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT: PRELIMINARY REFLECTIONS. African Journal of Emerging Issues, 5(17), 181 - 194. Retrieved from https://ajoeijournals.org/sys/index.php/ajoei/article/view/522
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