Never in his wildest dreams did JOHN WALLACH imagine that the program he organized this summer—to bring together Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptians boys at a camp in Maine—would end the way it did: front and center at the historic ceremony for the signing of the peace pact on the White House lawn on Monday.
In T-shirts with the logotype “Seeds of Peace,” 46 boys from the program, ranging in age from 11 to 14, were acknowledged by President Clinton when he said in his speech, “In this entire assembly, no one is more important than the group of Israeli and Arab children who are seated here with us today.”
The boys, who arrived in the United States on Aug. 17, spent three and a half weeks at camp, where they learned not just to play standard camp sports but also to overcome hostility and suspicions and be friends.
They also toured New York and Washington, attending a professional football game, visiting Planet Hollywood and meeting Mayor David N. Dinkins, Terry Anderson, several senators and Vice President Al Gore.
While they were touring the White House on Friday, Hillary Rodham Clinton suddenly appeared and spent 45 minutes with them. As they left, she said, “I’ll see you at the ceremony Monday,” recalled Mr. Wallach, an author who is foreign editor for the Hearst newspapers and founding editor of WE, a joint Russian and American newspaper.
“That was the first hint we had that we might be invited,” he said. “Then someone from the White House called and said that Seeds of Peace would be featured in the President’s speech and officially invited us.”
“We really had to scramble to change airline reservations,” he added, saying that the boys had been scheduled to leave on Saturday.
“I think they deserved more than anyone to be there,” he continued. “They had overcome such psychological and emotional hurdles to bond. For example, there was an Israeli boy whose father had been killed by Palestinian terrorists and Palestinian boy whose uncle was killed by Israeli soldiers and a Palestinian boy who had spent six months in jail for throwing rocks.
“An agreement is only words on paper. These boys made peace where it counts—with each other—and had tears in their eyes when they said goodbye.”
As for the timing of events, Mr. Wallach was still marveling yesterday as he accompanied the boys to National Airport to return to their countries. “It was divine providence,” he said.
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