Iran’s Official Discourse Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Abstract

Using the method of discourse analysis, the article aims to reveal the mostimportant identities of the actors of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as viewedby the official foreign policy discourse of Iran. It begins by locating thestudy in the constructivist universe and describing it as critical-constructivist. The analysis itself stresses the representation of basic differences in the character of the actors (the people vs. the regime) andthen continues with interpreting the following identities: Palestinians as thepeaceful and authentic inhabitants of Palestine, whose development hasbeen blocked; and Israel as a brutal and illegitimate regime with anessential, non-changeable nature. The study argues that understandinghow these spatial, temporal and ethical identities are shaped allows us tounderstand Iranian policy towards the conflict. Therefore the second part ofthe analysis shows the Iranian policy in the light of the identities elaborated in the previous part.