Top officials from the Middle East visit Israeli and Arab youths at Otisfield’s Seeds of Peace camp.
BY ALAN CLENDENNING | OTISFIELD As violence escalated Saturday in the Middle East, 160 Arab and Israeli teenagers who could be killing each other joined hands here instead, singing for peace and understanding.
Top officials from the State Department, Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian government and Tunisia looked on approvingly as campers recalled how they distrusted each other when they came to Maine – but learned how not to hate.
“I thought I couldn’t sleep with Israelis in the same bunks when I came here,” said Amer Kamal, a Palestinian boy. “Now I have the courage to say peace can be achieved with people easier than it can be with governments.”
Kamal and 500 others gathered at the edge of Pleasant Lake to dedicate the Seeds of Peace International Camp, an internationally recognized summer program that has brought Israeli and Arab children together since 1993.
Now at a permanent site for the first time, the camp plans to stay in Otisfield for at least 10 years. Its founder, John Wallach, said he plans to increase the number of campers who attend each year. He hopes they will go back to the Middle East and tell their friends that they can get along with their historical enemies.
“It’s 800 kids since we started and it’s becoming an army,” Wallach said to cheers from the crowd. “You are standing on special soil; there’s probably no other place in the world where youngsters and leaders (from the Middle East) are standing together and not fighting.”
Teenagers at the camp play tennis and soccer and swim, but they also learn to resolve their differences in small group discussions held every night. When the suicide bombing occurred July 30 in Jerusalem, Arab and Israeli campers heard the news together and comforted each other.
Despite the smiles and praise for the camp Saturday, bad news was not far away. While dignitaries and campers spoke about the importance of the camp, Israeli jets were bombing suspected guerrilla camps in Lebanon. One person died and three people were injured.
It was an ominous prelude to a mission by a U.S. peace envoy en route to speak with Palestinian and Israeli leaders in the wake of the double-suicide bombing by Islamic militants in Jerusalem that killed 15 people.
But the camp’s supporters in Otisfield said the latest problems in the Middle East can be overcome. They pointed to the campers as a new generation of Arab and Israeli youngsters who are dedicated to finishing the peace process.
“Even the people who would destroy peace with bombs and violence know peace is on the horizon,” said Thomas Pickering, undersecretary of state and the highest ranking U.S. diplomat on hand.
Pickering conceded that the peace process in the Middle East is in trouble. But he said the campers should realize that it’s their job to try to spread the word that Arabs and Israelis can live side by side without killing each other.
“All of us know that peace in the Middle East can only be made by Arabs and Israelis,” Pickering told the campers. “You will live to see the flowers and fruits that grow from your seeds.”
On Saturday, the suicide bombing in a downtown Jerusalem market was still fresh in many campers’ memories. Tomer Perry, a 15-year-old Israeli, said his relatives shop there several times a week. And his father works in a bus company 500 yards away.
“I was so afraid that day that something had happened to him,” Tomer said. “Everyone here was crying and consoling each other.”
Tamer Soliman, a 15-year-old Egyptian said learning about the bombing while at camp with his Israeli friends made the violence all the more real.
Both boys said the escalating troubles in the Middle East are disturbing, but won’t cause them to give up hope that they can help spread the word that Arabs and Israelis can live together.
“I was brought up being told that Israelis are the enemies and we shouldn’t make friends with them,” Soliman said. “But Tomer is a teenager just like me.”
The two write songs together about life in the camp, with Tomer playing guitar while Tamer beats a drum. At night, they argue about U.N. resolutions and try to understand each other better.
“The question,” Tomer said, “is can we do this back home? Can I visit a friend in Hebron and talk with him like I do here? A year ago it was much better, but now (the prospects for peace) are up and down.”
Marwan Muasher, the Jordanian ambassador to the United States, told campers that the few weeks they spend in Maine will change their lives and give them a different perspective on their neighbors in the Middle East.
“If anything, it points to what hopes and dreams can do,” Muasher said. “You bring with you stereotypes, fears, anger and confusion…But you are learning how to coexist and listen to each other.”
Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Eliahu Ben-Elissar, predicted that Palestinians and Israelis ultimately will find a way to stop killing each other.
“A settlement will be reached between Israel and the Palestinians,” Ben Elissar said. “We will live together simply because we have to get used to living together.”
And the Palestinian representative, Said Hamad, senior deputy chief of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Palestine National Authority, told the campers that they were brave.
“I’m here to tell you your effort has not and will not be in vain,” Hamad said. “It is through this understanding of each other that we will achieve a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”