BY DANNY SCHECHTER | We know how to cover war but pay short shrift to the process of peacemaking, or the techniques of conflict resolution. Bang-bang war footage—focusing on what we in the business call “boys with toys”—gets the attention; in contrast, peace initiatives are treated as soft (in the head) and, consequentially, less important. Tough guys ballooned up with bluster are pictured as heroes; peaceniks are sellouts or out of touch. Is it any wonder that the public at large has so little sense about workable alternatives to the continuing confrontations around the world? Perhaps that’s why it was so refreshing for me to have met a colleague who had “been there, done that,” and came out the other end as a reporter determined to do something concrete about peacemaking instead of just cataloging the unending cycles of pain. When John Wallach decided to launch a conflict-resolution, youth-training program that brings teenagers from war zones to a special summer camp in Maine, I immediately thought it would make a great film. Mr. Wallach agreed.
I found myself in my 50s going back to camp to find out if this program was all that it was cracked up to be. He agreed to provide our team with total access, cautioning that, in the end, it would be the kids who would decide whether or not to let the cameras in. We were a strange crew: myself, a Jewish New Yorker with a critical take on Israeli policy; Sam Shinn, a Korean-American cameraman; and Aliet Rogaar, our sound person, a Dutch woman.
It became clear early on that John was as welcoming as he was nervous about our presence. His peace camp functions on the edge of real conflict where internal eruptions are always possible. He knew, as we would soon find out, that the kids come to camp expecting to like each other and quickly find that they don’t. The teenagers who attended the camp were a diverse lot. Palestinians consumed by rage and Israelis paralyzed by fears. There was the grandson of a religious Jewish family who admitted that he was taught to hate Arabs, and spoke of watching his Israeli mother cry as she put on a gas mask to defend against Saddam Hussein’s Scud missiles during the Gulf War. Both sides felt guilty for having the opportunity of being there, for having fun. These were all kids who were handling emotions and problems that most adults can barely cope with.
By the end of the two-week session these teenagers learned how to listen and how to learn from each other, to overcome distrust and prejudice. They discovered that they could put aside their “facts” and arguments to build lasting personal relationships.
Like many good works, Seeds of Peace is underfunded because money for war-making is plentiful while peacemaking is still a beggar’s art. It is still refining its approach. Not everything that was tried worked. Not all the kids had the same experience. Some seem to be there more for the sun, the sports and the fun. But others take it seriously as work, even though there was occasionally more preaching than teaching for my taste. The experience for many was transformative. It is important to recognize that the kids have remained friends, and some publish a newspaper called the Olive Branch. How do we get more visibility for projects that work? How can we get the media to start telling more inspirational stories like these? How can we get their “leaders,” who now seem to have abandoned the peace process, to learn from their own children?