JERUSALEM SYNDROME AND U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

Ms. Rice’s mediation in Jerusalem has caused many people to question her judgment. There is a recognized clinical state of mind known as “Jerusalem Syndrome”, which causes some people here to lose their rational judgment when they arrive in Jerusalem, the cradle of the world’s three great religions, the place where Jewish prophets once flourished.

Deeply religious, Rice studies portions of the Bible every day, and no one can disturb her while she studies. Nothing is wrong with Bible study, except when Rice suddenly proclaims that she is on the ultimate mission of peace, that she herself is going to foster a peace settlement in the Middle East, and that the Palestinian state must be created immediately, and she seems mysteriously disconnected from the reality of the Arab war that continues against Israel, unabated, since 1948, spawned by the Arab League <!–
unprintable character, code:8211–>whose purpose, to this day, remains Israel<!–
unprintable character, code:8217–>s obliteration..

Speaking to reporters while en route to Israel, Ms. Rice told the media that her goal was to achieve “security for the Israelis and dignity for the Palestinians”, as if these are the characteristics of the Middle East conflict that has lasted for the past sixty years between Israel and the Arab world.

Meanwhile, as Ms. Rice says over and over she wants the Palestinian state to be created now, she also mentions to people around her she feels that the Palestinian cause is reminiscent of the civil rights struggle, which dominated the formative years of Rice’s life. Rice was the daughter of a black clergyman whose life was on the line in the 1960’s in a small Alabama town. Some of her close childhood friends were, indeed, murdered in a brutal attack on a local church.

Yet it seems Ms. Rice’s seminal civil rights experience has distracted her from the reality.

While Ms. Rice may imagine the PLO is a spontaneous Palestinian Arab grass roots civil rights movement, she apparently never relates to the fact that that it was the Arab League that fostered the PLO in 1964, three years before the 1967 war, in order to incite the indigenous Arab population to join their war to liquidate Israel and liberate all of Palestine.

Ms. Rice never mentions the PLO covenant to destroy Israel remains in tact as the mandate for the PLO and its progeny, the Palestinian Authority, and that the PLO covenant has not changed, except for the 1974 amendment that allows the PLO to destroy Israel in stages, which allows the PLO to use diplomatic means to that end.

Perhaps the unkindest cut of all was Rice’s comment to her colleagues that she compares Machmud Abbas to Martin Luther King, because they are both <!–
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If Ms. Rice had paid more attention to the guidelines the US State Department, she could have paid more attention to the fact Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades of the Fatah, commanded by Abbas himself, was designated by the US government on March 23rd, 2002, as a terrorist organization and that Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades was and is an integral part of Fatah, whose members regard Abbas as their leader. Ms. Rice could also relate to the fact that Abbas simply refuses to disband the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades

Instead, Ms. Rice lauds a terror organization which her own government defines as a terrorist group, while repeating, over and over, that she respects this same organization as a “moderate” entity. A symptom, perhaps, of Jerusalem Syndrome, since such a description bears no connection to reality

From Jerusalem, Ms. Rice flew to Egypt yesterday, where she praised Egypt for agreeing to join the Annapolis peace conference next month.

This is the same Egypt which endows the Hamas regime in Gaza with a daily flow of massive supplies of ammunition, light arms and rockets which have enabled Arab militias from Gaza to conduct daily missile Israel attacks for the last seven years…including 1000 missile attacks since Hamas formally took over Gaza in June, while Egyptian supply lines to terror in Gaza have continued without interference..

Where was Rice’s criticism of Egypt for arming a terror regime? It was not forthcoming.

Once again, such a response could be attributed to an advanced case of Jerusalem Syndrome.

Why allow the reality of war to interfere with her illusions of peace?

David Bedein can be reached at Media@actcom.co.il. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com

©The Bulletin 2007