BY JULIE WIENER | Abdasalam Khayyat was skeptical at first.
The 16-year-old from Nablus, along with other Arab teens from throughout the Middle East, was about to spend a month with Israelis. But he didn’t see how he’d be able to endure living with them.
“I couldn’t imagine how I could eat with, talk with and sleep next to someone who’s my enemy,” he said. “I was afraid what my family and friends would think of me. Finally, I told myself I must go to see my enemy, to tell them this is my land and to fight them.”
One week and several heated arguments later, his outlook started to change. And by the end of the month, he was counting Israelis among his closest friends.
“It was hard to talk to Israelis at first. Growing up in Nablus, I saw a lot of bloody fighting. I knew the Israelis as soldiers and settlers, and I hated them. Now I know very good Israelis, and I don’t hate Israel. I just hate when the government does bad things to people,” he said.
Khayyat and Shani Raz-Silbiger, 14, of Jerusalem, were in Detroit this week promoting Seeds of Peace, a camp in Maine that brings together Jews and Arabs from around the Middle East to learn conflict-resolution techniques. Because of their leadership potential and English skills, both teens were among a delegation selected by their governments to participate in the camp.
Although a supporter of the peace process before she went to camp, Raz-Silbiger, who is Jewish, said Seeds of Peace enabled her to see different perspectives.
“I realized that not all Palestinians are bad and that some want peace. That’s not what you see at home on TV,” she said.
For Raz-Silbiger, the turning point came after the suicide bombing at Jerusalem’s Machane Yehuda market.
“It was a difficult moment and everyone from the Israeli delegation was crying. Then we saw that the Arab kids were crying, too,” she said.
The Arab teens hugged and comforted the Israelis, and when another suicide bombing occurred in Jerusalem—after the teens had returned home—Raz-Silbiger received condolence calls from Arab friends in several countries.
“Then I knew we had made real peace,” she said.
Despite his new friends and long list of e-mail pen pals, Khayyat had a hard time going back to Nablus after the intense month in Maine.
“It’s still hard to talk about Seeds of Peace with some of my friends who were put in jail by Israelis,” said Khayyat. “My uncle was killed by Israeli soldiers, and my grandmother fled Haifa in 1948, so it’s hard not to share the function of Seeds of Peace with them. But some of my friends now agree with me and want to go to Seeds of Peace. Other friends still ask how I can talk to Jews.”
Raz-Silbiger had it easier.
“When I came back, my family was also for peace so they saw my perspective. But some people said, ‘How could you be with Arabs? They bomb us,’” she recalled.
Both Raz-Silbiger and Khayyat hope to go into politics and are cautiously optimistic that their generation—at least the ones who share the Seeds of Peace experience—will bring peace to the region.
“My grandparents still live in war but we have to build a future,” said Khayyat. “Making war is easier than making peace. Peace is hard and takes a lot of time.”