“People in power will have to embrace the common wisdom of Seeds of Peace. This is not useless idealism.”

President Bill Clinton welcomed the first group of Seeds of Peace graduates to the 1993 White House ceremony for the signing of the Oslo Accords.

As Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat stood side by side in the Rose Garden, President Clinton reminded the worldwide audience that the Arab and Israeli Seeds of Peace youngsters represented the future generations and that their work in conflict resolution was a vital part of peace.

President Clinton has since met with Seeds in the Oval Office as well as in New York and in the Balkans, and has spoken at Seeds of Peace events on many occasions.

President Clinton spoke to Seeds again at the White House in 1994 and, after enumerating diplomatic successes over the course of the past year, said:

“But ahead of all that is the simple magic of the person-to-person relationships that you are building, and a future you are building for yourselves…. I think it is fair to say that for me and all of us who have seen you here in the United States the image of you smiling together, of you singing together, of you being together will spur us on to try to make sure that the future that you share will be a future you share together.””

President Clinton has helped raise funds for Seeds of Peace, serving as Honorary Chairman of the 2009 Seeds of Peace Benefit Dinner, and highlighting the organization’s work in his 2007 book Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World. He also addressed Seeds of Peace’s 20th Anniversary celebration in 2013.

President Clinton continues to be a vocal advocate for Seeds of Peace, calling the organization’’s method of bringing youth together from nations in conflict ““the most astonishing example of this kind of interaction that I have personally witnessed.””

Most importantly, he stays abreast of Seeds’’ accomplishments; in 2011, he publicly recognized a project co-founded by Seed Jacob (“Cobi”) called “Dorm Room Diplomacy,” which facilitates online discussion between Middle Eastern and American college students, at the fourth annual Clinton Global Initiative University summit.