Research Symposium

BIO

My name is James Banks and I am a motivated freshman at Florida State University currently pursuing a pre-law track. With a keen interest in politics and the dynamics of political polarization, I am passionate about understanding the complexities that shape our legal and political systems.

As an engaged learner, I am eager to apply my knowledge and skills to real-world situations and am actively seeking part-time internships in legislation, politics, and law. I believe that practical experience is key to developing a comprehensive understanding of the field, and I am excited to contribute to meaningful projects while learning from experienced professionals.

Measuring Elite Sentiment on the Palestine-Israeli Conflict

Abstract

Since 1947, The United Nations has been investigating the possible solutions and actions to the Palestine-Israel conflict. This research project aims to determine the actions, condemnations, and language used toward the governments of Israel and Palestine and whether they are positive or negative to each government. We started collecting data for this project by skimming through the UN resolutions marked under the section “The Question of Palestine” and sorted sentences on an Excel sheet based on whether they were calls for action for the government of Palestine or Israel. Each resolution was marked by the year and resolution number and went in descending chronological order. In the process of going through the general assembly resolution, We found that the majority of resolutions featured language that either condemned or expressed concern over Israel’s actions and supported the inalienable rights of the people of Palestine. The most common calls for Israel were to cease all settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and demands for the stoppage of violence and destruction against Palestinian people and structures. The results of these studies show that the United Nations has a much greater tendency to condemn the actions of the Israeli government rather than those of Palestine. The results also show that the exact verbiage and sentences were used repeatedly throughout the resolutions and that the United Nations tends to build on sentences from previous resolutions, demonstrating that this is an ongoing issue that continues to change rapidly.

Keywords: Israel-Palestine, Elite Sentiment,