Watch where you are going

Recently this picture of Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz inspecting troop deployments in the Golan Heights has made the rounds of Israeli and international media. (For the whole BBC article click here.) Mr. Peretz has received a lot of criticism and ridicule for looking through binoculars with the lense caps still on. (It is good to have something to laugh at occasionally in this part of the world.) It does seem to me, however, that this is a great metaphor for the whole situation in the Middle East. The U.S. cannot see the civil war in Iraq and therefore cannot figure out what to do. Israel can’t see that without justice for the Palestinians, there will not be peace. The Palestinians can’t see that without security for Israel, there will not be peace. Israel can’t see that without dealing with the issue of the Golan Heights, there will not be peace with Syria. It is not only lens caps, however, that keep people from seeing the path to peace. All parties are looking back at their history and are focused on past injustices, real and perceived. This hindsight affects their perspective on the present problems. When Linda Biehl, the mother of Amy Biehl who was killed by black rioters in South Africa, spoke to high school students in our town about her forgiveness of the perpetrators, she said: “I can’t do anything about the past; I can only affect the future.” Looking back at the past instead of ahead for opportunities is like trying to drive on the road to peace looking in the rear view mirror. If we did that in our cars and hit a tree, the police would probably say: “Why weren’t you watching where you were going?” Maybe when the peace process hits a tree we should ask the same question.