Hamas' media discourse in the government

الملخص EN

In recent years international attention has become increasingly focused on hamas, as a nascent and increasingly influential Palestinian political movement.

hamas has historically charted a path of political and ideological resistance to the israeli occupation of the palestinian territories as a central platform of its agenda.

as such, it has refused political settlement, since its members consider that an occupied nation has the right to chose all forms of resistance against its occupier international interest increased in hamas after it won the legislative elections for the palestinian authority in 2006.

this is the same authority that signed the oslo agreement with israel in 1993, and one which chose political settlement as a means to resolve the conflict.

as such, when hamas formed the tenth govemment, a very complex situation was created, that is A Palestinian authority government was formed whose charter was based on rejecting the very agreement that created it for the purpose of ending the conflict by peaceful means.

many political commentators concluded that hamas would change its approach after being elected, and that it would become more politically moderate.

many also thought that hamas would accept the existence of Israel, thus abandoning an agenda of continued political resistance, and would instead opt for political settlement.

none of these things have happened.

hamas has instead insisted on its traditional political positions, which some regard as the bases for recent and ongoing crises in the Palestinian political arena at the same time, many writers, politicians, and media observers have reported that a discernible discursive shift has occurred both in relation to hamas operations as a movement and as the national govemment.

some have characterized the shift as a deliberate signal from hamas to the western countries, especially the United States and Israel, that hamas is now a political force that cannot be ignored in any efforts to solve the palestine-israel conflict.

in this study.

i examine certain discursive strategies used by hamas government's representatives as they are reported in the media.

central findings from this analysis include the presence of overlap between discourses of the movement and the government, and a relative flexibility in the government's discourse compared to that of the movement.

i argue.