Reading the Writing of the Wall: The Israeli Security Fence/Palestinian Apartheid Wall as Semiotic Text

Abstract

Using theoretical perspectives drawn from critical discourse analysis (CDA) and visual rhetoric, this study examines how the symbolic meaning of two structures, Bethlehem Checkpoint 300 and the Israeli Anti-Terrorism Fence/Palestinian Apartheid wall, are constructed in discourse. Many of the visual rhetorics associated with the structures, including graffiti on the fence/wall and the visual layout of the checkpoint, construct Palestinian and Israeli identity in specific ways. An analysis of interview, textual, and visual data reveals particular rhetorics and discourses operationalizing around the structures including the rhetorics of security, land grab, restrictions on Palestinian freedom of movement, and the discourse of Promised Land. I conclude that the symbolic meaning of the structures and rhetoric of the "war against terrorism" align perfectly with Israel's symbols and rhetoric of sovereign power. The myths created by these symbols are clear: (1) the State of Israel is sovereign; (2) Palestinians in general pose a threat to that sovereignty; and (3) the protracted conflict between Israelis and Palestinians has no end because Palestinians continue to resist the colonization of historic Palestine.