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As the President's special envoy to the Middle East, Condoleezza Rice has taken the lead role in helping to implement the U.S.-backed "road map," demonstrating again her ever-increasing role in articulating the Bush administration's foreign policy.

But critics wonder whether Rice is willing or experienced enough on Middle East policy to assure that Israel—one of the United States' strongest allies—meets its obligations under the comprehensive peace initiative.

"Can America stand tall on the issue of Palestine and speak justice?" asks Fahed Abu-Akel, a Palestinian American Christian and Presbyterian minister in Atlanta. His family fled their home and became refugees during the 1948 War. "Right now the U.S. government's foreign policy vis-à-vis the issue of Palestine is bankrupt." The internationally supported peace plan seeks to end years of violence in the region and establish an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip within three years. Skeptics say the plan is doomed to fail unless Israel ends its occupation and withdraws from all settlements in the West Bank and Gaza as outlined in the road map. That withdrawal, Israel says, will depend on how successfully the Palestinian Authority can curb terrorism and crack down on militants.

Many of Rice's critics see the road map as little more than another attempt by the United States to assert its hegemony over the Middle East. Rice's comments to an Israeli newspaper that she has "a deep affinity with Israel" only deepened their concerns.

"I have always admired the history of the State of Israel and the hardness and determination of the people that founded it," Rice told Israel's daily Yediot Aharonot in May. "Israel was a state who in the beginning was not given a chance to survive. She survived mainly because of the hardness of the Israelis and their readiness to sacrifice their lives for the state."

Rice added that growing up listening to her Presbyterian minister father's stories about the Holy Land made her first visit to Israel in August 2000 a "deep emotional experience." The comments provoked the left-wing political website Counterpunch to publish an essay called "The Hardness of Condoleezza Rice: Huckstress of Israeli Myths."

The perception that the administration's close ties to Israel have already compromised the peace plan is particularly strong among Arabs. Rice's defenders, however, say that she has already shown backbone with Israel. They cite a temporary cease-fire by Palestinian militants, the beginning of an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and her criticism of the 1,000-kilometer security wall Israel is building to separate its territory from the West Bank.

"We strongly support the implementation of the road map and were heartened to hear that Rice has put pressure on Israel over building the separation fence," said Corinne Whitlatch, director of Churches for Middle East Peace in Washington, D.C.

• Sheryl Henderson Blunt

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Also appearing on our site today:

The Unflappable Condi Rice | Why the world's most powerful woman asks God for help.

'The Privilege of Struggle' | How Rice understands suffering and prayer.

Christianity Today sister publication Christian Reader profiled Rice last fall:

Condoleezza Rice's Secret Weapon | How our National Security Adviser finds the strength to defend the free world. (September/October 2002)

Bios on Condi Rice are available at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University, The White House, and The State Department.

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September 2003, Vol. 47, No. 9