This research studies the effect of news coverage on third-party interventi
ons in negotiations. In the political context of the post-Oslo era in the I
sraeli-Palestinian negotiations, it examines the influence of U.S. appeals,
reported in the local Israeli press, that called on the Israelis to make c
oncessions. Previous research regarding the reactive devaluation bias (Ross
1995) led to the hypothesis that a positive effect of the third-party comm
unicator will occur:An appeal for Israeli concessions from an American sour
ce should elicit more favorable attitudes among Israeli Jews compared to th
e same appeal from a Palestinian communicator. In addition, I hypothesized
that in line with tendencies found in regard to the reactive devaluation bi
as (I. Maoz et at. in preparation), the magnitude of the positive effect of
the third-party communicator will depend on the recipients' political affi
liation and will vary for hawks and for doves. These hypotheses are examine
d, using an experimental design of the communicator's identity (American ve
rsus Palestinian) by the recipient's political affiliation (hawks versus do
ves). The findings support the research hypotheses.