Followers of policy and political developments in Palestine-Israel must be struck by the degree to which the tactics employed by the powers that be are disconnected from desired ends. They will also be puzzled by how the obsession of some leaders and movements with their mistaken path distracts them while they dangerously march themselves and their followers off a cliff.
With specific attention to the tactics and behaviours of Hamas and Israel, three stories from different religious traditions come to mind. While not part of their sacred texts, the practical lessons of these tales are worthy of consideration.
First, there is a wonderful old Buddhist tale that goes something like this. One day, a group of disciples approached Buddha asking him to show them the way to the Moon. Buddha silently pointed to the Moon. Years later, the students were still studying the Buddha’s finger.
The simple lesson is to not become so obsessed with, or distracted by, what is supposed to help you find your way to a goal that you lose sight of the goal itself. It’s a matter of connecting and not confusing means and ends.
For example, in the beginning, Hamas declared its objective to be ending the Israeli occupation, while Israel stated its objective as bringing peace and security to its people. Decades and many lives later, Hamas’s tactics and Israel’s wars have become ends in themselves, with the ultimate goals now forgotten – and no attention paid to whether the behaviours of Hamas or Israel are accomplishing anything other than moving once-sought-after goals farther away from realisation.
Somewhat along the same line, there’s an old Hasidic tale. A rabbi, who had finished his teaching in one town and was on his way to the next, realised that he wasn’t sure which way to go. As he left the town, he saw a small boy and asked him how to get to his next destination. The boy replied: “There’s a short way and that is to go through the woods. The town is on the other side. Or there’s the long way and that’s to go around the woods. But … ”
Because it was getting late in the day, instead of waiting for the boy to finish, the rabbi became impatient, cut him off, and darted into the woods. Night fell and the rabbi became hopelessly lost. Emerging from the woods in the morning, he found himself in the same place he had been the night before and the same boy playing in the same spot. He shouted at the boy, saying: “Your directions were useless.”
The boy replied: “You didn’t let me finish. I was about to tell you that going into the woods was the short way, but because the woods are dense and it was getting dark, I was afraid you could get lost and so it would be the long way. But going around the woods, while the longer route, was ultimately the short way.”
Just knowing where you want to go or what you want to accomplish isn’t always enough. The tactics you use or the path you take matters. Just as being focused on the pointing finger will never get you to the Moon, not paying attention to the practicality of the steps that you must take to get from here to your goal also matters.
There must be a connection between your goal and your path – there’s no shortcut. When you end up substituting body counts, buildings destroyed, and anger and fear created for the original goals of ending the occupation or peace and security for your people, you’re lost in the woods and end up right where you started, needing to begin again.
Finally, there’s this story from the Hindu tradition. One day, four blind men came upon an elephant. They asked: “What is this?” One, holding the elephant’s tail, announced: “I think it’s a rope.” Another, putting his arms around the elephant’s leg, said: “No, I think it’s a tree.” Still another, feeling the elephant’s massive side, announced: “No, it’s definitely a very large, smooth rock.” The fourth blind man, rubbing his hand along the elephant’s tusk, announced: “It’s none of those things. It feels more like a long, curved weapon.”
The answer of course is that the elephant isn’t any single one of these. In a manner of speaking, it is all of them. In this regard, this tale is a variation on the old adage that warns of the danger of “missing the forest for the trees”.
When looking at a complex reality, it’s important not to become so obsessed with one aspect of the situation to the exclusion of the totality.
Israel is especially guilty of this. From the foundation of their enterprise in Palestine, they had a myopic view of reality. They viewed the Nakba and the creation of a state as victories, but they ignored the enmity they had created in the process. They see only what they want to see. Having demolished Gaza, they are now turning their attention to forced evictions and increased land seizures in the West Bank.
But all along, they miss the reality that the elephant isn’t just a tail or a leg. And so, while they ring up little victories, the anger they create only grows, with lethal consequences. In each age, the means they have employed have resulted in thousands of deaths – of their own people as well as their Palestinian victims. And the accumulation of this lethal myopia has created more Palestinian and Arab anger. It has also resulted in greater insecurity and an ugly distortion in their political culture. The lesson: focusing only on the tail or leg can get you trampled on or impaled.
The lessons from these three tales are clear: tactics are not ends in themselves, but must lead to the desired goal. When they don’t, to avoid disaster, change is required.
