Media and Communication, 2016, Volume 4, Issue 1, Pages 15-26 15 Media and Communication (ISSN: 2183-2439) 2016, Volume 4, Issue 1, Pages 15-26 Doi: 10.17645/mac.v4i1.298 Article Likes for PeaĐe: CaŶ FaĐeďook Proŵote Dialogue iŶ the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict? Yifat Mor *, Yiftach Ron and Ifat Maoz Department of Communication, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, 91905, Israel; E-Mails: yifat.mor1@mail.huji.ac.il (Y.M.), yiftach.ron@mail.huji.ac.il (Y.R.), msifat@mscc.huji.ac.il (I.M.) * Corresponding author Submitted: 19 April 2015 | Accepted: 5 October 2015 | Published: 18 February 2016 Abstract This study examines the ways in which social media is used to promote intergroup dialogue and reconciliation in the context of the protracted, ethnopolitical conflict between Israeli-Jews and Palestinians. We focus on content analysis of posts aŶd ĐoŵŵeŶts oŶ a FaĐeďook page Ŷaŵed TǁeetiŶg Araďs which was established and is administered by Pales- tinian citizens of Israel. This page states that its ŵaiŶ goal is to puďliĐize opiŶioŶs, thoughts aŶd ďeliefs of Palestinians, enabling the moderate voice to be heard and encouraging dialogue between Israeli-Jews and Palestinians. The analysis is ďased oŶ a data set ĐoŶtaiŶiŶg posts aŶd ĐoŵŵeŶts ĐolleĐted froŵ TǁeetiŶg Araďs siŶĐe the page ǁas fouŶded iŶ November 8th 2014 and until December 4th 2014. This data set ĐoŶtaiŶs ϴϱ posts ǁhiĐh gaiŶed a total of ϵϲϱϳ likes, aŶd ϰϲϭ shares, as ǁell as ϯϱϲϱ ĐoŵŵeŶts aŶd replies to these posts. Our fiŶdiŶgs reǀeal that ǁhile posts that pre- sented the narrative of Palestinian suffering were mostly followed by negative comments from Israeli-Jews, posts that brought up the Palestinian moderate and peace seeking voice elicited higher Jewish –Israeli acceptance and sympathy. The research adds to our understanding of Facebook as a dialogue provoking platform that enables users from different ethnopolitical groups in divided and conflicted societies to perform peacebuilding actions. Keywords contact theory; intergroup dialogue; narrative model; peacebuilding; reconciliation; social media Issue This article is part of the issue Peacebuilding in the Age of New Media, edited by Vladimir Bratic (Hollins University, USA). © 2016 by the authors; licensee Cogitatio (Lisbon, Portugal). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribu- tion 4.0 International License (CC BY). 1. Introduction Facebook serves as a main arena for public debate for Israelis, who are found to spend more time than any other nation on Facebook (McHugh, 2011; Mor, Kligler- Vilenchik, & Maoz, 2015). During the second week of April 2015, 61,493 new Facebook friendships were formed between Israelis and Palestinians. 1 And so, while remaining in a protracted ethnopolitical and in- tractable conflict which is perceived as irresolvable, Is- raeli-Jews and Palestinians interact on Facebook daily. Intractable conflicts, such as the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, are a major force shaping the ethos and view- 1 Peace.facebook.com points of the societies involved (Bar-Tal, 2007, 2013; Bar-Tal, Rosen, & Nets-Zehngut, 2009; Kriesberg, 1998; Salomon, 2004). Intergroup dialogues are extensively used as mechanisms for reducing prejudice and im- proving relations between Israeli-Jews and Palestini- ans. However, only limited research attention has been dedicated to online dialogues as venues for Israeli – Palestinian peacebuilding and reconciliation (see Ellis & Maoz, 2007; Hasler & Amichai-Hamburger, 2013; Wal- ther, Hoter, Ganayem, & Shonfeld, 2014). Our study examines Facebook as a platform for promoting inter- group dialogues aimed at cooperation and reconcilia- tion in the context of this protracted, ethnopolitical conflict between Israeli-Jews and Palestinians. It is based on a qualitative content analysis of posts and