The rhetoric of construction: A comparative case study of the language of the U.S.-Mexico & Israel-Palestine border walls

Abstract

This research examines the language and rhetoric of fear used to justify the walls and fences built by the American government along the U.S.-Mexico border, and by the Israeli government around the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It focuses specifically on the rhetoric used by the head of government of each country (the American president and the Israeli prime minister) during the years 2001-2011 to explain and justify the construction of a physical barrier as a measure of national defense and self-preservation.