BY ANDREA FINE | Israelis and Palestinians are still uncertain whether the new peace agreement between them will really work. Although the majority of people seem hopeful, it’s hard for enemies to trust each other after years of bitter fighting.
Building trust isn’t impossible, though—especially if it is taken one step at a time. Coming together is the first and, in many ways, the hardest step.
That’s what 46 boys from rival groups in the troubled Mideast region learned for themselves last summer when they came together in a camp program in the United States called Seeds of Peace.
Now back in their own countries, they’re telling their friends and neighbors about their experience and asking everyone to give peace a chance.
Fadi, a Palestinian boy from East Jerusalem, told a reporter, “I hope from my heart that peace will take place in all of the world. And I think that justice and the stopping of killing between the two sides is the only road to peace.”
Discouraged by fighting
The boys were among thousands of people who gathered in Washington, D.C. on September 13 to witness a ceremony during which the leaders of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed a peace agreement and shook hands.
For two weeks before the ceremony, the 46 boys had been living together in the woods of Maine at a Seeds of Peace summer camp.
John Wallach, a newspaper reporter and the author of three books about the Mideast, came up with the idea for a peace camp after the World Trade Center in New York was bombed last February.
Wallach was discouraged by all the fighting in the world. He decided that if he could get young “enemies” to become friends, they might choose to live in peace when they got older. A camp, he thought, would be the perfect place to bring kids together.
The boys were chosen because of their leadership qualities and their ability to speak English. Fifteen were Egyptian, 20 were Israeli and 11 were from the Palestinian West Bank. They ranged in age from 11 to 13.
Kids can get along
Camp Director Joel Bloom said the boys were immediately suspicious of each other.
“One boy said he had been brought up to believe all Israelis are assassins and killers,” Bloom told Kids Copy.
They were encouraged to talk to each other about their suspicions, which helped, Bloom said. More importantly, they shared cabins and were teammates in games of baseball, soccer and basketball.
Uri, a 14-year-old Israeli, said in a television interview that while he was at camp, he learned that friendship is more important than politics.
“You can have an argument, but then you can go back to being friends and playing baseball or softball or something,” Uri said.
Camp Director Bloom believes the camp proved “that children who are given the opportunity can get along without conflict.”
Seeds of Peace has plans for another camp next summer and hopes to start a similar program for girls.
Think about it
Is there a group of people you consider an enemy—people who live in a certain country, practice a certain religion, or belong to a certain political party? Have you ever approached a member of that group as a potential friend and gotten to know him or her as an individual person? Do you think your feelings about the “enemy” group would change if you did that?