This study examines ideologically driven intertextual borrowings in political discourse in light of political events related to the Middle East. Its primary concern is to explore the ideological struggle and power relations governing the production of political text. For this purpose, this study analyses a variety of texts on the Middle East in both Arabic and English. These texts are analyzed through a multi-dimensional approach of Critical Discourse Analysis. It is argued that what sometimes seems to be an innocent and neutral historical reference, including quotations, hides much more dynamism and involvement that is not less ideologically driven than directly stated stances.

Keywords

: intertextuality; Middle East; political discourse; moral ambivalence; ideology; religion