BY HERB SWANSON | At home in Israel, 15-year-olds Sara Jabari and Dana Naor would probably be enemies. Sara is a Palestinian and Dana is an Israeli, groups that have long been enemies. But at the Seeds of Peace Camp in Maine, the teens are fast friends. At camp, they room together, take hikes, play games, and otherwise live in peace together.
Palestinians and Israelis have been fighting each other for more than half a century over who rightfully owns the land in the Middle Eastern nation of Israel. Although officials on both sides try to resolve their conflicts, the bombs keep exploding and the guns still fire.
Seeds of Peace was started to help the next generation of Israelis and Palestinians stop the fighting and finish the peace process. “After all, one of these kids could become a president or a prime minister some day,” said the camp’s founder, John Wallach.
Let’s Discuss
But Seeds of Peace is not only about making friends and playing games. Each night, the campers participate in discussion groups where campers learn to listen, understand, and trade points of view with one another in ways that wouldn’t be possible at home. The sessions, the campers say, are often difficult and heated. “Sometimes we shout and even cry,” said one camper.
“The point of the discussions is for campers to realize that their differences are deep,” said Wallach. “But it’s up to them to find ways to resolve them.”
When a series of terrorist bombs exploded in Jerusalem, Israel’s capital, over the summer, the campers were able to look beyond the bombings. The attack drew tears, apologies, and hugs. “The sympathy we felt made us strong,” said Shirly Errany, 14, of Israel.
A Trip to Washington
Madeleine Albright, the U.S. secretary of state, recently toured the Middle East in hopes of restarting the peace process between Palestinian and Israeli officials. But before her tour, she invited Seeds of Peace campers to visit with her at the United States State Department in Washington, D.C. The campers told her that peace is about “the friendships between us.”
Albright told the campers that she planned to take their spirit with her when she toured the troubled region. “You are the region’s future,” she told her visitors. “No one has a greater stake in the future of the Middle East than you. It’s time for neighbors to live as neighbors.”
At summer’s end, the campers returned home. But before they left, they were told, “Alone, you are the seeds of peace. Together, you are the promise of a Middle East at peace. You will live to see the flowers and fruits that grow from your seeds.”
Like all kids at the end of summer camp, the Seeds of Peace campers promised each other that they would keep in touch and stay friends.