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Utah virtuoso’s “Concert for Peace” in Salt Lake City to benefit Seeds of Peace

May 15, 2003 / No Comments

SALT LAKE CITY | Gerald Elias, associate concertmaster of the Utah Symphony, and local pianist Marjorie Janove will present their third concert to benefit Seeds of Peace, an international organization that seeks to empower the children of war to break the cycle of violence.

The Salt Lake City “Concert for Peace,” which follows the national benefit gala recently held in New York City, will be Saturday, May 31, at 7 p.m., at The Cathedral Church of St. Mark-Episcopal Diocese, 231 E. 100 S. Tickets are $25 for the concert and $35 for both the concert and post-concert reception. Food will be provided by Mazza, which specializes in Middle Eastern cuisine. For more information, or to make advance reservations, call 801-328-5043, or e-mail lbarlow@saltlakechamber.org. Tickets may also be purchased at the door.

Seeds of Peace offers one-on-one interaction for teenagers from 22 war-ravaged nations at an idyllic lakeside camp in Otisfield, Maine and runs follow up programs through its Center for Coexistence in Jerusalem. Through the creation of open dialogues, team building, group projects and activities and conflict-resolution sessions, the teens—or “seeds of peace”—begin the difficult process of developing the mutual trust, respect and empathy needed to break the cycles of hatred and violence. The organization’s goal is to humanize “the enemy” by breaking down barriers and by building bridges, all in a neutral, safe and supportive environment.

“This year the message of peace is more relevant than ever,” notes Elias, adding that his visit to the Maine camp and observance of the emotional and passionate “coexistence” sessions was a life-changing experience.

Although Seeds of Peace founder John Wallach passed away last year, the organization has been busier than ever. Over the past 12 months 450 teens, representing 22 nations, graduated from Seeds of Peace camps; over 150 Israeli and Palestinian alumni held a reunion through the Seeds of Peace Center for Coexistence in Jerusalem and ran leadership programs and coexistence dialogue groups; over 100 Seeds of Peace students were on scholarships at U.S. universities; and an Afghanistan program was initiated.

Current Seeds of Peace President Aaron David Miller writes, “No matter how compelling the terms of any agreement or treaty, peace will not be secured without an effort to break down barriers of suspicion and mistrust and create normal relations between people. Indeed, if peacemaking remains the purview of the diplomats alone, it will not succeed.”

Last year’s Salt Lake City Seeds of Peace Concert, played before a capacity audience at Gardner Hall, raised $11,000 in two hours. The 2002 event featured music by Tartini, Gershwin, Chopin, Deberiot and Strauss. This year’s concert, part of a larger community outreach effort, will surprise music lovers, as the evening’s program will not be announced in advance. “We are calling this a command performance,” notes Lizzie Barlow, one of the event coordinators.

Commenting on why he and Janove have decided to keep the program a secret, Elias explains, “We want the audience to be even more excited about the music when they hear some of their old favorites—and some soon-to-be favorites—pop out of our hats.”

Two representatives from the national organization of Seeds of Peace, Amy Baroch, senior event coordinator, and George Atallah, development associate, will attend the concert and will accompany two Seeds of Peace alumni. They are Malvina Goldfeld, a 21-year-old Israeli who is a sophomore at Princeton, and Mohammed Matar, a 17-year-old Palestinian from Gaza who, through a scholarship, is finishing his senior year at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts.

“This year our goal is to be able to send six teenagers to the Seeds of Peace camp, which costs $2,500 per student,” notes Barlow, adding that the national organization is funded through individual donors, foundation and federal grants, and corporate giving. “We hope to raise $16,000 through this event, with $9,000 of that donated outside of ticket sales.”

Deseret News music critic Ed Reichel has called Elias “an exceptionally talented and sublime musician” and Janove “a marvelous pianist and first-class accompanist.”

To schedule an interview, contact Ann Bardsley at 801-466-1127 or at annjb@xmission.com. Photos available upon request.

Seeds of Peace was founded in 1993 by award-winning author and journalist John Wallach. Foreign Editor of the Hearst Newspapers for 25 years, Wallach covered many regions of war and terrorism, including the Middle East. After the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, Wallach decided to reach out to the children of war and terror to find and nurture hope. Wallach created the organization to provide an opportunity for these children to plant the seeds for a more secure future. In its first year, the Seeds of Peace International Camp brought 45 youngsters from Israel, Palestine and Egypt to live together side by side.

Now, more than a decade later, almost 2,000 teenagers from the Middle East, the Balkans, Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, India and Pakistan and the United States have graduated from the Seeds of Peace International Camp. In 2002, 12 Afghan youths attended the program. Seeds of Peace has created a variety of follow-up initiatives worldwide, including the Center for Coexistence in Jerusalem, which offers year-round activities for Seeds of Peace alumni to sustain their relationships and commitment to coexistence.

Seeds of Peace has achieved broad-based international recognition as a “best methods” conflict resolution program and has been featured on 60 Minutes, Nightline, Good Morning America, The Today Show and on CNN, PBS and NPR. Seeds of Peace received the UNESCO Peace Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Nonviolence in 2000.

Gerald Elias, associate concertmaster of the Utah Symphony since 1988, first violinist of the Abramyan String Quartet and a faculty member of the University of Utah, has performed in Europe, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand as well as in the United States. He has composed many works including “Conversations With Essie,” which was performed at the 2002 Moab Music Festival. He has been commissioned by the Utah Symphony to compose a piece for its chamber orchestra series in 2004. Elias is also the author of the mystery novel Devil’s Trill.

Marjorie Janove is an active soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. She has appeared with the Utah Symphony, NOVA Chamber Music Series, Temple Square Concert Series, the Vivaldi Candlelight Concert Series, the Maurice Abravanel Distinguished Composer Series and the Madeline Festival of the Arts and Humanities Series. She completed a Doctorate of Musical Arts Degree with distinction in piano performance at Indiana University, where she studied with Karen Shaw and Menachem Pressler and where she taught as an associate instructor.

ADDRESS: 231 E 100 Street, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111
DATE: May 31, 2003
TIME: 7:00 p.m.
LOCATION: The Cathedral Church of St. Mark-Episcopal Diocese
CONTACT: lbarlow@saltlakechamber.org

VIDEO: Seeds of Peace camp connects teens from all walks of life
WGME (CBS/Portland)

Jul 10, 2016 / No Comments

OTISFIELD (WGME) For 24 years, hundreds of teens from around the world converge on a camp in rural Maine on a mission to find peace among their nations …

178 campers, once divided by conflict, link together.

“Everyone is equal,” Elizabeth a camper from Palestine said. “We all wear the same shirts, we all sing the same song and we sleep in the same places.”

Teens from all walks of life meet friends they once called enemies.

“I met a girl from the “other side” and she has the same favorite movie as me,” Elizabeth said. “You discover that they’re not actually what you we’re raised to think they are. They’re not like monsters or enemies, they’re actually humans.”

Israelis working with Palestinians. Their flags flying side by side.

“I don’t think there’s another place in this world where those two flags would fly next to each other,” Sarah Brajtbord with Seeds of Peace said.

Finding peace in a world with so much conflict is the ultimate goal at Seeds of Peace.

“While those national identities are apart of who we are and who are campers are it’s also about getting to know the person underneath those identities and those labels,” Brajtbord said.

Through dialogue and conflict, these teens build relationships they never thought they could have.

“One of the reasons why we bring our campers to Maine is so they have a safe space,” Brajtbord said. “So they are able to learn and connect with one another which doesn’t translate for a lot of our campers when they go back home.”

Read Daniel Lampariello’s report at WGME.com ››

View: Seeds of Peace
Daily Times (Pakistan)

Sep 4, 2009 / No Comments

NoorzadehLAHORE | Far away, in the lush, green woods of Otisfield, Maine, USA, there is a place where great things happen. This place, which over a hundred new young people from all over the world are proud to call “home” for three and a half weeks every year, has a magical effect. Seeds of Peace, an American NGO, is paralleled by few, because the greatness of the idea on which it is based is unique and yet fundamental to human co-existence; the idea that people everywhere are good, and that each of us can be a collaborator for peace. The camp in Maine is theory put into practice.

Established in 1993 by John Wallach, an eminent journalist of his time, Seeds of Peace brings together young people from regions of conflict around the world in an effort to promote peaceful coexistence and reconciliation, in the hope that they, being future leaders, will use the values and leadership skills learnt at camp to bring about change in this world. Wallach firmly believed in his philosophy that “the enemy has a face”, and that when people of two conflicting nations sit down together and have a conversation about their lives, families, hopes, dreams and aspirations for their children, they would ultimately see the good in each other. That is the first step to achieving peace in this world.

This summer, I was one of the lucky few chosen to attend the SoP camp, and I can safely say that it was probably the most amazing experience of my life, for it is not every teenager who gets the opportunity to interact with people from different conflict-stricken regions of the world. I shared a bunk with people from America, India and Afghanistan, ate three meals a day at a table with my Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts, and participated in all sorts of activities, including music, art and sports with people from different countries.

In addition, the Pakistani delegation also had dialogue with the Indians, Americans and Afghans regarding important issues such as terrorism, the conflicts between our respective countries such as Kashmir (between India and Pakistan), and the Durand Line (between Pakistan and Afghanistan), and the effects these issues had had on us individually.

There was an interesting clash of opinions, with free expression of all points of view, and though our conversations became pretty intense at times, they never went too out of control. On a personal level, I spoke as an individual, not as a supporter of my government’s stance on every topic. During the last days of camp, we tried coming up with possible solutions to all these problems, and actually succeeded in agreeing on several things.

It was amazing to hear their side of the story, and learn about how what they’ve been told differs from what our history books say. The first step to making peace is, no doubt, clearing all misconceptions, and our dialogue sessions certainly served this purpose. It was an enlightening experience.

Though every day at camp was exceptional, there were some highlights, such as the Culture Night, where people from all delegations wore their traditional native dress, and rich, exotic food from different countries was served. There was also a camp talent show where different delegations presented a performance pertaining to their culture. Pakistanis danced to a medley of old film songs; the Jordanians performed their traditional “dapkay” dance, and so on.

Campers were given the opportunity to observe different religious services, even if they were not participating. I observed the Jewish Sabbath, Hindu and Jain services and Christian mass, while non-Muslim campers came to see Muslim Friday prayers. The purpose of this was to showcase the similarities between our religions, and to make people realise that we can live in peace and harmony. I enjoyed the other services thoroughly, especially the Jewish ones, because the atmosphere was filled with love and warmth.

In addition, there was an interfaith dialogue, where campers of different religions discussed their beliefs, and how religion could be used as a means to achieve peace in the world.

The neutral atmosphere of Seeds of Peace was truly valuable. I never once felt as if I was being judged by anyone for anything I said or did on the basis of my nationality, religion or ethnicity; I was there as an individual.

Probably the most important aspect of Seeds of Peace is that one learns to put aside all preconceived notions, doubts and misconceptions one has to get to know people from other countries for what they are, and not based on stereotypes and labels.

Seeds of Peace is no longer just an idea; it is the realisation of a beautiful dream which over four thousand people all over the world are involved in. Many have dedicated their lives to working for peace and stability, and their efforts are not in vain: Seeds of Peace’s manifest success in the Middle East led to international recognition of the organisation as an effective body for bringing about peace in areas of conflict. The US State Department too started to support it, and with its aid, a South Asia programme was launched in 2001, comprising Indian and Pakistani delegates. A year later, it was extended to Afghani youth as well. This programme continues to date, and is doing much valuable work in our region.

The writer is a student based in Lahore. For more information on Seeds of Peace, visit www.seedsofpeace.org.

Read Pakistani Seed (’09) Noorzadeh Raja’s opinion piece at The Daily Times »

Using the game to spread peace
ESPN

Aug 1, 2006 / No Comments

BY B.J. ARMSTRONG | OTISFIELD, MAINE The news from the Middle East, and much of the recent history for that region, has been rather bleak. But the news from an international summer youth camp is bright.

I participated in a basketball clinic at the “Seeds of Peace” camp, an organization that brings together teens from areas of conflict in the hopes that the best and brightest from the next generation can figure out a way to help their people into an era increasingly free of conflict.

Almost 200 teenagers attended the camp, most from the war-torn Middle East.

Here’s one line spoken from among the Palestinian, Israeli and other Middle Eastern teens: Blazers draft pick LaMarcus Aldridge is greeted by Seeds of Peace campers. “I can be the president here, you can be the president there, and we’ll get this resolved.”

All I could think was, “Wow.” They’re thinking big, even though history seems stacked against them.

Many here cope daily with living through war but are still seeking peaceful solutions. Let’s hope sports, basketball in this case, can back this effort.

I first came here four years ago, thanks to the effort of my agent Arn Tellem, and was happy to come back for a second time this summer. We spent a day this week running the campers through basketball drills. NBA players Brian Scalabrine, LaMarcus Aldridge, Jordan Farmar and Etan Thomas, plus Andrea Stinson of the WNBA, were also on hand to help lead the way.

For some, we were introducing them to the sport. But many seemed to know the game quite well. On one level, it was good to see the globalization of basketball. Many were aware of the rules and had played quite a bit—this really broke the ice for me. And many knew the championship Chicago Bulls teams I played for, and of course this one guy named Michael Jordan, my former teammate.

As an athlete, it also reminded me of the effect we have on people. These kids are watching our every move. We have their attention, so our hope is the lessons of teamwork and sportsmanship we share can rub off in bigger ways.

Still, despite the fact that they looked up to us, they were the most impressive ones here. This was demonstrated after the balls were put away. It showed in the “conflict session” in which we had frank discussions about life as a “radical, subjective experience.”

It impressed me to see them entertain an idea but not believe in it—just allowing everyone to get what he or she had to say out there without being shouted down.

These kids already have seen some things about the state of the world. And these discussions ultimately came down to the big question of “Who am I?”—a vital conversation to have with young people who know war as a way of life. They all face the challenge of backing their beliefs when they leave Maine and go back to places of deep-seated conflict. Here, they examine the sources of information—family, government, culture and media—and how that shapes a current belief system.

Celtics forward Brian Scalabrine demonstrates his version of a push-up to campers. One camper from Palestine talked about his preconceived notion of all kids from Israel, but had come all the way to the neutral ground of the Maine woods to discover that “they’re just like me.”

They also seem to understand that they don’t have the capacity to change the world in a day, but they’re taking baby steps in the right direction. They know a different way is needed to change the current situation and remain open to committing to this picture of peace, even in these tough times. They want to be world leaders; they want to be presidents; they want to be in the U.N. They have a world vision.

We had dinner together, and we were talking world politics—how we have to do it together and how it’s going to take a whole community to get us out of conflict. The kids are committed to nonviolence, and they are so positive on so many levels. Still, they are very much kids. You’ll see them gathering together, dancing and chanting, just having fun.

Kids, with innocence, ambition and a love of life. Being among them this week, I really got a sense that this world has a chance.

ESPN analyst B.J. Armstrong played in the NBA from 1990 to 2000. For more on the camp, see www.seedsofpeace.org

American Seeds explore interfaith dialogue and community relations

Nov 18, 2013 / No Comments

NEW YORK | Why do different faith communities come together? Who is present at the discussion table, who isn’t, and why? What issues should be discussed in an interfaith setting? These are some of the questions that American Seeds grappled with during a seminar focused on faith as a personal matter and a powerful tool for community engagement.

The 15 Seeds met in New York on November 16-17 for a weekend packed with conversations with professionals working with faith-based organizations, as well as dialogue sessions which allowed them to delve deeper into their own roles and identities.

One session focused on the Seeds’ different faiths and religious identities. They examined questions of representation and their connection to faith-based communities and engaged in dialogue about the challenges and opportunities found in interfaith work. The Seeds also discussed the different intentions and objectives critical to this type of work, and examined the inherent sociopolitical issues at play.

“The sessions touched me and challenged me in ways I haven’t felt since Camp,” said one of the participants.

The Interfaith Dialogue: an Exploration and Reflection seminar was led by Sarah Brajtbord, US-Based Programs Manager, and Ashleigh Zimmerman, a former Seeds of Peace staff member and current Executive Director of the Muslim Consultative Network.

Seeds met with Karen Barkey, Director of Columbia University’s Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life, who gave a thought-provoking presentation on the role of institutions in promoting and maintaining tolerance in communities.

“To be tolerant of another doesn’t mean to give up one’s identity,” she said in defense of pluralism. “Rather, it requires a strength of identity.”

Maryam Said and Ayisha Irfan, activists from the Muslim community in New York, spoke of the challenges and potential pitfalls of engaging in interfaith dialogue from the Muslim community perspective. They shared advice with the Seeds on how to create safe, open spaces for honest conversations that avoid the common “othering” and marginalization that participants often feel happens in dialogue spaces. They also spoke of interfaith dialogue not as an end in itself, but rather a means towards achieving social justice.

Seeds also heard from Frank Fredericks, founder of World Faith, an organization that brings together people from different faith backgrounds for service-oriented projects that create change in their communities. Their work creates opportunities for humanization and for combatting the “otherism” so prevalent in religious contexts.

Mollie Krent, a Barnard Speaking Fellow, led the Seeds through a facilitation workshop to help them develop their abilities to structure participation, ask open questions, and manage the “burden of neutrality” often experienced by facilitators.

The Seeds also had the opportunity to hear from a panel of Columbia and Barnard student interfaith leaders. The speakers discussed student leadership and activism, sharing their different initiatives and personal experiences with interfaith work.

“My biggest takeaway from the weekend is a realization of how important it is to share your story,” said an American Seed participant.

June 3, 2002 | Concert for Peace in the Middle East (New York)

Jun 3, 2002 / No Comments

Officials of Israel, Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to mark tenth anniversary of Seeds of Peace.

Special Honoree: Senator George Mitchell

Patrick Stewart to Host Concert for Peace at Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall will host the Seeds of Peace 10th Anniversary Concert on Monday, June 3, 2002 at 8pm. Invited guests:

  • HRH Crown Prince Hamzah Hussein of Jordan
  • Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister of Israel
  • Ahmed Maher El Sayed, Foreign Minster of Egypt
  • Special Honoree Senator George Mitchell, negotiator of the Irish Peace Accords and Plan for Peace in the Middle East
  • Dr. Sari Nusseibeh, Palestinian Authority Representative for Jerusalem
  • Mr. Amram Mitzna, Mayor of Haifa

Patrick Stewart will host and Barbara Siman will direct the Broadway concert that will include performances by:

  • Linda Eder, Jekyll and Hyde
  • Michael Feinstein, American Ambassador of Song
  • Constance Green, Metropolitan Opera
  • Judy Kaye, Mamma Mia!
  • Marc Kudisch, Thoroughly Modern Millie
  • Bebe Neuwirth, Chicago
  • Roger Rees, Nicholas Nickleby
  • Daniel Rodriguez, “God Bless America”, NYPD singer
  • Desmond Richardson, Alvin Ailey Dance Company
  • Melody Rubie, Phantom of the Opera
  • Anne Torsiglieri, Marty (new Charles Strouse musical to open in September)
  • Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian, Jordanian and Indian and Pakistani Performers from Seeds of Peace with a special performance (straight from the US Olympics) by the Pilobolus Dance Company.

Package tickets for the Tenth Anniversary Gala start at $250. Public seating tickets are available between $25-$75. Tickets can be purchased online at www.seedsofpeace.org, through Carnegie Charge at 212-247-7800, or at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 W. 57th Street.

Since 1993, Seeds of Peace has graduated more than 2,000 teenagers representing 22 nations from its internationally recognized conflict-resolution program. The Seeds of Peace program brings hundreds of youth identified by their governments as among the best and brightest to live together at three consecutive month-long summer programs. Through the summer-long programs, participants develop empathy, respect, communication/negotiation skills, confidence, and hope – the building blocks for peaceful coexistence.

ADDRESS: Carnegie Hall, 7th Ave, New York, NY
DATE: June 3, 2002
TIME: 8:00 p.m.
LOCATION: New York, NY
CONTACT: Rebecca Hankin | (212) 573-8040 ext. 31.

Office Depot to sell Michael Feinstein’s latest CD in over 800 stores nationwide to benefit Seeds of Peace

Aug 5, 2002 / No Comments

BEVERLY HILLS | Beginning August, Office Depot, one of the nation’s largest sellers of office products and equipment, will offer Michael Feinstein’s latest recording with Concord Records, Michael Feinstein With the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, for sale in over 800 stores throughout the United States. A portion of all sales will benefit Seeds of Peace, a non-profit, non-political organization dedicated to helping teenagers from regions in conflict, including Arab and Israeli youngsters from the Middle East, end the cycle of violence.

The sale of this CD at Office Depot stores holds particular poignancy as it follows Monday’s announcement that the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra’s 8-city tour of the U.S with Michael Feinstein was cancelled. One of the reasons cited for the cancellation is security concerns.

Seeds of Peace (www.seedsofpeace.org) has graduated more than 2,000 teenagers representing 22 nations from its internationally recognized conflict-resolution program since it was created in 1993. Living together throughout the summer, these teenagers, who were identified by their governments as among the best and brightest, work to develop the building blocks necessary for peaceful coexistence. The organization also provides a safe and supportive environment in which the youngsters can air their views and learn communication, listening, negotiation and other conflict-resolution techniques that allow them to develop empathy for one another.

Michael Feinstein With The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, recorded in Tel Aviv, was released May 7. It marks the first time that the singer-pianist, one of the top interpreters of popular American song, has recorded with a symphony orchestra. The CD contains lush and inventive treatments of a dozen veteran American standards, all written by American immigrant composers, such as “Stormy Weather,” “By Myself,” “Somewhere,” and “I Won’t Send Roses.” The 88-piece Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is led by the Alan Broadbent Trio.

“Seeds of Peace is an extraordinary organization that has developed incredibly successful social programs to help both Israeli and Arab teens work and live together in peaceful co-existence,” says Michael Feinstein. “The teenagers I met in Israel through the organization had demonstrated tremendous courage and I dedicate this recording to all of those children.” Michael continues: “Music has always been a great healer, and, along with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, I want to help it keep playing.”

Office Depot will sell Michael Feinstein With The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra through the end of September, 2002.

In 2001, Michael Feinstein received his third Grammy Award nomination for his acclaimed double CD Romance On Film, Romance On Broadway. Michael enjoys an active performance calendar, including major concert halls, symphony orchestras, and intimate jazz clubs. More than a mere performer, he is nationally recognized for his commitment to the American popular song, both celebrating its art and preserving its legacy for the next generation. Michael also co-owns the most successful nightclub in New York City, Feinstein’s at the Regency.

Planting global harmony
The Record (Bergen County, NJ)

Jan 28, 2003 / No Comments

BY VERENA DOBNIK | Seventeen-year-old Julia Frazier of Fort Lee has an indelible memory of summer camp: She’s standing on a large seesaw, 10 people balancing at each end, with a glass of water teetering at the fulcrum. The exercise was meant to show the teenagers, who came from around the world, what it takes to negotiate a peace between warring factions. When one person moved, all the others had to quickly shift in response.

“If everyone took even a tiny step, it would upset the balance. We had to choose one person to take that step, support that person, and balance as a team. “Every person matters—big or small,” said Frazier, a high school senior who attends the Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.

The seesaw test was staged in the woods of Otisfield, Maine, as part of a summer camp run by Seeds of Peace, a private, non-profit organization founded by the late author and journalist John Wallach. Since 1993, Seeds has brought together about 2,000 youths from warring lands—Israelis and Palestinians, Indians and Pakistanis, Cypriot Turks and Greeks, Bosnian Muslims and Serbs, tribal members from Afghanistan.

Two events this month reinforce its international reputation: Aaron David Miller, the U.S. State Department’s senior adviser for Arab-Israeli negotiations, was named president of the New York-based organization. “Seeds of Peace reflects the type of effort so desperately needed in the Middle East,” Secretary of State Colin Powell said in announcing Miller’s departure.

Comedian Janeane Garofalo was the host of a benefit auction in Manhattan, where former President Bill Clinton noted that there have been 120 Middle East suicide bombings in the past two years. The Canadian pop band Barenaked Ladies was given the first MTV Seeds of Peace Award.

Seeds members have been touched directly by both war and peace. Asel Asleh, a 17-year-old Palestinian, was wearing a Seeds of Peace T-shirt when killed by Israeli soldiers during a rock-throwing protest in Israel two years ago. Similar shirts were worn by Seeds members invited to the White House in 1993, when Clinton hosted the signing of a Middle East peace accord between Israel’s then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat—a pact that did not endure.

Growing up in Fort Lee, Frazier planned to study marine biology or the environment. But her two weeks at the Seeds camp, as one of four American delegates, changed all that—inspiring her instead to seek out colleges with strong programs in international relations and conflict resolution. “Now I want to do everything in my power to solve problems between people—especially one on one,” she said. “Seeds has changed my idea about college.”

At the Maine camp, between competitive sports, music-making, and arts courses, she learned about centuries-old ethnic hatreds. Frazier was assigned to mediate discussions of the conflict in Cyprus, the Mediterranean island nation where Greeks and Turks coexist in an armed truce that periodically erupts in violence.

“Before the camp session, I knew nothing about that country, except that it was somewhere near Greece. And I thought, how can I possibly contribute anything?” Frazier said. Suddenly, she was living in a Spartan lakeside cabin with Greeks and Turks, one of whom had lost his grandfather in a political revenge killing. During intense face-to-face sessions called “Coexistence,” she listened to Cypriot youths lay out their island’s tortured history since it was granted independence by Britain in 1960: ethnic Greeks and Turks fighting for their respective rights; a CIA-sponsored coup and a 1974 invasion by Turkey; and the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Greeks from their homes.

“After, they turned to me to ask what I thought. I was able to give them a kind of bird’s-eye view, because I wasn’t partial to either side, and I was sympathetic to what I was hearing—I spoke from the heart,” she said. “I said, ‘You are justified in having your own point of view. But you aren’t going to get anywhere if you’re just trying to prove that you’re right.'”

Frazier sees similar forces at work in social and family issues in her own country. “Conflicts have the same human roots, whether it’s East Coast-West Coast gang rivalry or family problems—everybody wants to be right,” she said.

Wallach, a son of Holocaust survivors, founded Seeds after years as a foreign correspondent covering the strife and failed diplomacy of the Middle East, hoping the camp could help bright young people from the region find the keys to peace. Seeds alumni “go home very, very different from when they arrive. I think they now know the enemy. … The enemy is now human,” Wallach said before his death last July.

Frazier understands that. “Not reacting with anger can be really lonely, but I’ve made the connection to Seeds: How you deal with your personal life determines how you deal with the world.”

The Israel-Hamas war has not quashed their compassion, their empathy, their hope | National Public Radio

Nov 5, 2023 / No Comments

A bullet in his spine, hope in his heart

By Ari Daniel
Yousef Bashir has a permanent physical reminder of the stakes of the long-running conflict between Israel and Gaza — a bullet lodged in his spine.

Bashir grew up in Gaza. In 2000, during the Second Intifada, when he was 11, Israeli soldiers occupied the second and third floors of his family home. As for why they did so, “the short answer is because they could,” Bashir says. The house was isolated from the rest of the neighborhood and it gave the soldiers a lookout that let them “see all the way to the sea.”

The soldiers “demolished our greenhouses,” he says, “and pretty much every night, moved the entire family to sleep in the living room while they controlled the rest of the house.”

Bashir says he had to ask the soldiers for permission to use the bathroom.

In the face of that difficult time, Bashir recalls his father explaining that “we should not allow them to turn us into hateful, vengeful people. I’ve watched my dad insist that the only way forward for both sides is peace. And it isn’t only just because it is the right thing to do, but if we are to move forward and become doctors and engineers and husbands and fathers and productive members of the international community, we must do all we can to preserve our humanity.”

His father drew on the Quran. “Never let hatred for any people lead you to deviate from being just to them,” he quoted in Arabic.

Bashir says his father told him “it is one thing to lose one’s home and one’s land and even a loved one. But it is another thing — the most tragic thing — when one loses their humanity.”

It wasn’t always easy for Bashir to agree with his father. For instance, one summer, the soldiers prevented Bashir and his family from going to the beach, which was 15 minutes away. Bashir snapped. But his father said to him, “imagine you are at the beach, imagine the air, the breeze, the waves, the ocean, the sand, imagine, imagine what would you be doing?” Bashir couldn’t quite put himself on the shore in his mind that day, but ever since he’s practiced his ability to imagine. And it’s helped him imagine a different reality for himself and his people to this day.

Peace and tolerance are the core lessons that Bashir was taught as a boy — “as a person, as a Muslim, as an Arab, as a Palestinian,” he says. “I became peaceful in Gaza. I became peaceful when my house was besieged and when my family was shot at, when my farms were demolished. And I think that is a miracle.”

Without those important lessons, Bashir isn’t sure whether he would have survived his youth. “My dad saved my life,” he says.

Roughly a week after he turned 15 years old, just outside his home, a soldier fired the bullet that embedded itself in the center of Bashir’s back, in his spine. “I was lucky to survive,” he says. “I collapsed to the ground. I was looking to figure out what was happening because I felt no pain. I saw no blood, but I could not speak and I definitely could not feel my legs.”

“I think I was shot only because I was Palestinian,” he reflects.

“Quite frankly,” he admits, “I did want to die because it was not normal for a child to be subjected to that way of living. But at the same time, I’m just 15. Why should I go now?”

Bashir was rushed to a hospital in Tel HaShomer, Israel. Up until that point, he’d only met Israeli settlers and soldiers. But now he was meeting Israeli doctors trying to repair him.

“I don’t think Israel intended to show me their human side,” Bashir says. “But I think some higher power wanted me to see that.” He recalls an Israeli nurse who frequently rushed to his side, explaining to some of the other health workers that he was shot for no justifiable reason. All this made Bashir understand his father’s perspective better.

He also came to recognize that he’s from a very particular part of the world. “I come from the Holy Land,” he says. “The land of Jesus and Muhammad and Moses, the [land of the] Jews, Christians and Muslims.”

Bashir was in a wheelchair for two years, but he did learn to walk again. He still does physical therapy and takes regular shots of cortisone to relieve the pain.

Today, half his lifetime later, 34-year-old Bashir lives in Washington, D.C.. where he’s finishing his Ph.D. in international affairs at Johns Hopkins University. The residual bullet causes him ongoing discomfort — “a 24/7 ordeal for me,” he says. “When I watch movies, when I hang out, when I sleep, when I play, when I do just about anything.”

To Bashir, it’s a constant reminder of the conflict — and why the fighting must stop.

“I am here,” he says. “I still believe. I’m still committed. Despite the pain that I will experience tomorrow, I am convinced that [peace is] the only way forward.”

The present moment, however, is a difficult test of Bashir’s conviction.

“With every image, with every video, with every report I see of innocent Palestinians being killed and targeted,” he says, “I get very close to screaming in my apartment. And breaking.” Bashir’s voice cracks.

And then he remembers his father who insisted on peace.

“It’s bad enough,” says Bashir. “My people lack freedom and a state and so much more. I think to be deprived of [our humanity] is just unacceptable. And so in preserving my humanity, in my mind, I am somehow still giving my people and the world a chance for a better life.”

The right to live in peace and security, Bashir argues, “belongs to the Palestinians just as much as it belongs to the Israelis.”

Read Ari Daniel’s op-ed at National Public Radio ››

Ned Lazarus Diary No. 3
Slate

Nov 7, 2001 / No Comments

“Don’t you have any better music?” Ten different things about that sentence caused me to do a double take. The unmistakably American accent. The unmistakably female voice. The completely comfortable English. The apparent distaste for the standard Arabic Top 40 cassette that usually thrills Palestinian kids, and the subsequent conclusions that this girl was passionate about music and about some different kind of music than her peers. The lack of “Sir,” “Mister,” or “Excuse me, teacher,” anywhere in the sentence. The direct, almost obnoxious tone. The simple fact that this mysterious young Gazan female had the confidence to ask this question at all, a brazen act with a total stranger. When I turned around to see who it was, I multiplied my double take. She had a bright face wrapped in a colorful scarf, and she was the first hijab girl to smash my stereotypes, and later, tragically, to break my heart.

It was midnight, the day before camp, June 1998. The 15 Gazan members of the new Palestinian delegation and I were cruising to Israel’s Ben Gurion airport in the modern ship of the desert, the Ford Transit van. We had successfully navigated the barbed-wire labyrinth that is the Erez border crossing from Gaza to Israel, in a record-fast time of just over two hours. Each Palestinian kid had already presented his ID to three different Israeli soldiers and turned his bags over for a thorough search; three more ID checks and one more exhaustive search awaited them at the airport. But this was routine. That sentence out of the back of the van came out of nowhere—certainly didn’t sound like it came out of Gaza.

Gaza was, back then, the most thoroughly sealed off section of the Palestinian Authority. Unlike the West Bank, which in the peace process days was only occasionally roadblocked in every direction, no one entered or left Gaza without an Israeli-issued permit, which was difficult for most and impossible for many to obtain. Gaza was consequently the poorest part of Palestine, the most religiously conservative, and the least likely to produce such a sentence.

I had grown accustomed on camp flight night to meeting Gazan Seeds who were especially excited about their upcoming trip to America, it often being their first time out of Gaza—but who were also shy and fastidiously respectful of their strange, over-friendly American escort. Until they got used to over-friendly Americans after a few days at camp, the girls often barely spoke to me at all. But this girl, wrapped in the symbol of Islamic piety—that despite my relatively extensive experience with Palestinians, clearly triggered a lot of assumptions in my mind—wasn’t just talking, she was initiating conversation, and she was pissed off I hadn’t brought anything from Pearl Jam.

She didn’t initiate conversations just with me; she was a smash hit at camp, a crack hitter on the softball field, a powerful Palestinian voice in the coexistence discussions, and especially popular with those Israeli girls who were fellow devotees of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She’s not your typical hijab girl—but she’s not alone. Several more such Seeds followed in her footsteps, leaving me and their Israeli acquaintances with eyes and minds more wide open. Alas, in the eyes of her parents, the original dazzling hijab Seed had indeed gone a little too far on her trip to America. Her parents discouraged and eventually disallowed all contact with Seeds of Peace and Israeli friends.

But next summer two new hijab girls with no previous American experience came and smashed stereotypes by simple force of personality. One of those is our famous fugitive from yesterday—we’ll call her Salma. She’s from the closest to Gaza you can get in the West Bank, a traditional Muslim family in a rural hamlet between Nablus and Jenin. She speaks remarkable English for someone from her area, the best in her school with no competition. She was the leading Palestinian girl in the third camp session of 1999, returning home proud of representing her people and having won the hearts and respect of many Israeli teens. Unlike our Gazan original, Salma didn’t break my heart either upon coming back.

Salma stayed in close touch and remained as active as she possibly could, even during the intifada when Israeli soldiers and settlers have repeatedly shot up and shut down her village, often cutting off electricity and water and imposing curfews. She described the events and her continued hope for peace in the Olive Branch, and appreciated the concerned phone call she received from an Israeli Seed, consciously distinguishing between her friend and the soldiers that afflict her and her family.

Salma is a fugitive because, as a West Bank Palestinian, she is not legally permitted in Jerusalem. But she has to take the TOEFL here, in order to apply to university in the United States. Her abilities and her aspirations are greater than what’s available to her at home, and we want to help Salma get where she could easily go if a million obstacles weren’t in her way.

Even to get the point where we could help her, she literally had to climb mountains. The Israeli army has encircled and separated all the Palestinian cities in the West Bank throughout most of this year, more tightly than ever after the assassination by Palestinians of an Israeli minister three weeks ago. Salma hiked one and a half hours over the mountains surrounding Nablus and crossed five checkpoints in three different taxis before we picked her up. Her car was the last one to pass between Nablus and Ramallah before a firefight on that road killed one Israeli soldier and three Palestinian gunmen and closed the road once again to any Palestinian transportation.

So, my moral of today’s story: It takes endurance, chutzpah, courage, cleverness, good luck, and the intervention of a major international organization for ordinary Palestinians to travel pretty much anywhere right now, and before the intifada it wasn’t that much better. For those who have concluded that I am radically pro-Palestinian, I’m just telling the story of one girl’s trip to take a test. And tomorrow, we’ll meet the Israeli teen from a settlement who declared in the most permanent possible way that she’s a Seed of Peace.

Read Ned Lazarus’ diary entry No. 3 at Slate »