Abstract
Despite the potential of amicable messages to transform the course of conflicts, studies have neglected the reasons target audiences accept or reject such messages. This study examines the evaluation of amicable messages conveyed by three groups of leaders perceived as "controversial"in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the Israeli perspective: Palestinian, Middle Eastern, and Western. A content analysis of comments (N = 1,885) to news reports about amicable messages delivered by leaders of the three groups showed that the use of Israeli commenters in source-, receiver-, and message-related argument vary when commenting to amicable messages from different leaders. We discuss potential explanations for these distinct patterns and how leaders aiming to appease foreign audiences can formulate effective amicable messages.
| Original language | American English |
|---|---|
| Article number | edac008 |
| Journal | International Journal of Public Opinion Research |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 16 Feb 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by the Israeli Science Foundation (987/61)
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The World Association for Public Opinion Research. All rights reserved.
Keywords
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- amicable communication
- conflict resolution
- message evaluation