The Oslo Syndrome Self-Evaluation Quiz

Peace broke out in our region 17 years ago. The New Middle East came to life, the wings of the white dove of peace fluttered through all the network news shows and only a few strange prophets of doom opposed the peace process that was going to save the world.

When reality began to broadcast voices of pathological hatred from our peace partners and the flutter of the dove's wings was replaced by bombs exploding on buses and the cries of Jewish victims of terror on Israel's streets, nothing changed. The reality was suppressed or explained away in Newspeak. The victims of Arab terror became the Victims of Peace.

If an official commission of inquiry had been established to investigate the Oslo fiasco, it would likely have found a number of flaws in the decision-making process. Doubtless, though, the commission would have praised the courage of the statesmen who initiated the process and may possibly have offered suggestions for improvement the next time around. Those are exactly the conclusions of the commission of inquiry into the Second Lebanon War, the commission of inquiry into the state of the refugees of Gush Katif and now, the Eiland commission of inquiry into the Gaza flotilla debacle. It is only reasonable to assume that the Turkel Commission will present similar findings. It is the Oslo Syndrome striking once again.

How can you know if you suffer from the Oslo Syndrome? If you think that relations between people and nations depend only on written agreements; if you think that a signed and sealed contract with a murderous liar is better than facing off against him in reality; if you stand face to face with a terrorist and think that he is a peace activist or if you see a public relations campaign that says that there is a solution for every settler and you don't understand that for that to be possible you have to see real houses in real settlements for 10,000 real people. If you have any of the above symptoms, you are suffering from the Oslo Syndrome.

There is no point in establishing commissions of inquiry if they are to be chaired by people with Oslo Syndrome. Just six years ago, General Eiland drew up the operational plans for the Disengagement. As part of the main objectives to be accomplished by the Disengagement, he wrote that the plan would improve Israel's security and political reality. A captive of the Oslo Syndrome cannot possibly conclude that Israel really didn't need better intelligence to understand the motives of the "peace activists" on board the Gaza flotilla. Just as there was no need for better intelligence during Oslo to understand what Arafat wanted.

The commission of inquiry into the expulsion from Gush Katif concluded that the expulsion was the most serious abuse of human rights in Israel's history. But it did not point to the reasons that lurked behind this major abuse of human rights. Instead, it devoted an entire chapter of its report to improvements for the next time around.

Israel is suffering from reality blindness. Not only do the commissions of inquiry headed by people suffering from Oslo Syndrome not help - they are detrimental - creating the impression that the problems have been analyzed and rectified, when in truth they have been buried under volumes of Newspeak.