THE IMAGE OF PALESTINIANS IN THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT

Abstract

Te article examines the image of Palestinians in English-language young adult fction on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as perceived by the Israeli side. Te analysis is carried out within the scope of a new interdisciplinary feld of research, i.e. linguistic imagology, which is focused on the linguistic means of creating an image of a foreign people. Te article reveals theoretical aspects in the functioning of an imagological image, describes the structure and linguistic imagological mechanisms in the formation of the image of Palestinians as “the other” side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. An image is more complex than a stereotype, though the former can sometimes transform into the latter, which occurs in the speech of teenage Israeli characters from the books under analysis through the use of mythologems and labels. Te author’s speech and the speech of older characters indicate a more mature perception of the other side in the conflict, which is actualized in the use of aphoristic sayings. Te dichotomy “we-they/ we-you” reveals the tendency to transform the opposition between civilian Israelis and Palestinians into their unification within one semantic group, which in its turn is opposed to the Israeli authorities and Palestinian leaders of extremist groups. Te results of the research demonstrate the writers’ attempts to overcome stereotypical perceptions of Palestinians by introducing a profound imagological image of the latter