BY KEN DERRY | SOUTH BRUNSWICK Understanding the tension within the Middle East can be complicated, but Rep. Rush Holt came to South Brunswick High School here yesterday to help educate students by offering two examples of tolerance.
Holt, D-Hopewell Township, brought with him Shir Hahanov, a 19-year-old Israeli woman, and Shurouq Al-Sweitti, a 21-year-old Palestinian woman from Jericho. Both are alumnae of Seeds of Peace, a non-profit, non-political organization which provides an intense three-week camp where teenagers from regions of conflict come to learn about each other’s histories.
The camp is deep in the woods of Maine, said Megan Hughes, Seeds of Peace education coordinator. During those three weeks, the teenagers talk about the roots of hatred and terror while encouraging methods of conflict prevention. They take the information back to their countries at the end of the camp, Hughes continued.
Seeds of Peace graduates also go to high schools and peace conferences throughout the world, disseminating the lessons they learned about resolving conflicts, she said.
“The conflicts that these two students symbolize is all over the front pages of the papers,” Holt said. “Right now, this is probably, politically, the most important conflict in the world.
“If any good is going to come out of the war in Iraq, the United States is going to have to be deeply involved in seeing that we get peace in the Middle East, especially with Palestinians and the Israelis,” Holt continued.
“It’s important to realize the role your country plays,” said Al-Sweitti, recalling the history of America’s involvement in the Middle East peace process. “It’s also important to realize that after Sept. 11, that role has become more intense.”
The role of the individual is equally important to the role of the leaders and politicians in resolving the conflict, she explained. Doctors, teachers and religious groups, for example, make differences within their own communities, she said.
“What I’d like for all of you to realize is your potential and how much you can contribute,” Al-Sweitti said.
Hahanov said that despite the close proximity of Israelis and Palestinians, the first time she actually spoke to a Palestinian was at the Seeds of Peace camp.
“I had no idea how Palestinians my age would feel,” she said. “We all live in the same world, we’re all so connected. It makes you think there is a solution.”
When she graduates from high school, Hahanov will join the military service in Israel.
“My reality is shocking and different and painful. But yet I’ll go back and live that reality and try to do something about it and change it,” said Hahanov in discussing the camp’s influence on her. To that end, Al-Sweitti said she volunteered at a refugee camp in Jericho where she taught English.
“Even formal agreements depend on people to work them out,” Holt concluded. “It comes down to people and that’s what this Seeds of Peace program is about.”