DECEMBER 28: Israel is grappling with a shadowy enemy at the turn of the millennium. Fanatical Christians, it fears, may be planning violence at holy sites to hasten the end of the world. Police are closely monitoring the throngs of tourists and pilgrims arriving in the Holy Land to usher in the third millennium and have already kicked out dozens of Christians they considered a security risk.``We have no concrete information about specific intentions, but in light of the information we have, we must be alert and vigilant,'' said national police chief Yehuda Vilk.Yair Barel, director of the Kfar Shaul State Psychiatric Hospital in Jerusalem, says the institution has taken in dozens of people convinced that the second coming of Jesus Christ is imminent. Barel says some of his patients, whom he has diagnosed as suffering from a phenomenon that has emerged only in recent months, known as the `millennium syndrome', could be dangerous. ``We have hospitalised many people in a very acute psychotic state, someof whom believe Jesus will arrive and it is up to them to accelerate his return,'' he said.He cited the case of a woman who was admitted after beating up people at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site of Jesus' crucifixion and burial, believing she was ``the prophet of the olive tree''.Barel said doomsday cults prepare themselves in different ways for the arrival of Jesus, many by sacrificing their lives to prepare `reception committees' at sites such as the Mount of Olives overlooking the Old City, which many believe is the site of the resurrection of the dead on the Day of Judgment. Barel described the millennium syndrome as a variation of better known Jerusalem syndrome, which can affect ordinary visitors overwhelmed by the city's religious significance, gripped them in a temporary apocalyptic fervour.Israeli special police unit commander David Tsur said last week that there had been ``several incidents'' involving Christians in Jerusalem's Old City, including one attempted suicide. Mediareports say police are arresting at least three or four people every day for trying to commit suicide at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, known to Jews as Temple Mount, or for stabbing police or Muslim worshipers.Working closely with Interpol and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, Israel has already expelled several dozen members of fundamentalist sects. But last week Ireland protested the deportation of its 26 nationals in October, saying they were harmless pilgrims and had no intention of carrying out violent attacks.
