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Seeds of Peace Dissolves Friction into Friendship
The Saudi Gazette

Oct 30, 1995 / No Comments

BY BARBARA G.B. FERGUSON | Dressed in their T-shirts and blue jeans, the look just like any other children attending a summer camp but, despite appearances, this unique camp has been created to bring children together than have been taught to call each other “enemy.”

This is the third summer that Seeds of Peace has hosted a group of 130 children from Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Israel, and Morocco at Camp Androscoggin in Maine.

The founding principle of Seeds of Peace is simple and remarkable: Offer children of the Middle East—aged 13 to 15—the opportunity to put ancient hatreds behind them, and give them a chance to cultivate new friendships. The founders of Seeds of Peace hope that, as a result, these friendships will become the seeds from which an enduring peace in the region can grow. This year marks the first time that a delegation of Muslim and Serbian children from Bosnia-Herzegovina have been included at the camp.

Seeds of Peace camp, is the only program of its kind designed to transform the treaties signed by political leaders into real peace by grounding it in the hearts and minds of the people.

“Beginning with the next generation is the only way to lay rest to the heritage of hatred and propaganda that each of these peoples have inherited,” says Seeds of Peace founder John Wallach.

“Unfortunately, because real peace has not yet come to the Middle East, this camp in the middle of the Maine woods, is the only place where hundreds of young Arabs and Israelis can get to know one another. It is an oasis of tolerance.”

Wallach, a former foreign editor of Hearst newspapers, says he wanted to do what all the peace treaties could not: bring together young people who have been taught to hate.

“Our aim is to provide each child with the tools of making peace—listening skills, empathy, respect, effective negotiating skills, self-confidence, and hope,” Wallach says. We try to teach youngsters to think of others as individuals and not as members of political, racial, or religious groups. The program fosters education, discussions, and emotional growth through both competitive and cooperative activities—and emphasizes the importance of developing non-violent mechanisms of resolving disputes.”

Wallach says he got the idea for Seeds of Peace following the New York World Trade Center bombing in 1993. “It occurred to me that the only real response to this kind of terror was to begin a program that would get the next generation of Arabs and Israelis together. If peace is going to have any chance,” he says, “it must begin in the hearts of both peoples when they are young.”

While at Camp Androscoggin, the youngsters enjoy a full sports, arts, drama, and computer program. “They don’t even notice they’re playing sports with their enemies,” Wallach says. The children also spent 90 minutes every evening in intense coexistence workshops exploring their innermost feelings and fears about each other.

As can be expected, the task of getting along together is complicated by sharp political, ethnic, cultural and religious differences. Nothing, not even swimming, is simple. Girls and boys, for example, must swim separately in deference to the Muslim children.

But evenings are a different matter, says Wallach. Youngsters from opposing countries tell stories of loved ones who have been killed—while facing the children of the very people their grandparents, parents, the media and their government may consider, their enemy.

“People can’t kill unless their enemy is dehumanized, now the enemy is sitting across from you and they look just like you. Wallach says, explaining that typically, the evening sessions go through three stages: “We’re going to make peace. This is easy.”

“Finding out they don’t like each other very much. “This is the most difficult stage,” says Wallach. “The differences are really deep. They have to make a real personal effort to each out to the other side.” There is a lot of crying, he adds, and each side sees themselves as the only victims.

“Those tears have to flow,” Wallach says, “You have to get out your own tears before you can empathize with the tears of others.”

“Then when you hear them tell the same story about their father or brother, who was killed by your people, you can begin to understand—and achieve the breakthrough so vital in this whole process.” Stage three, recommitment, occurs during the second week, “when they discover they can like and trust each other, find more in common and that they really can be friends.

“This is not a summer cam,” Wallach summarizes. “It’s a very profound experience.”

It is arguable whether bringing 130 young people together in the woods in Maine can eventually improve Mideast stability. But any visitor who witnesses the interaction between these children, feels convinced that change is occurring, and, that genuine friendships—and respect for the other—have formed.

Yet there is no denying the initial fears they feel about each other are real. The first year, a couple of Israeli children were found walking in the woods at 2 a.m. “We’ve never slept in the same room with Palestinians,” they told their counselors. “We are afraid to go to sleep.”

According to the children themselves, they were all afraid of each other when they first arrived to the camp. And yet, after less than three weeks together, all of them speak of the incredible transformations their lives have undertaken as a result of their experiences.

Some of the children are here on scholarships, at a cost of $2,000 per child, raised through private donations. Others, whose parents can afford it, pay for the airfare.

“Each of these youngsters is special and is selected in a highly competitive process,” explains Wallach. After an initial recommendation by their school principal, each boy or girl must respond in English to the essay question: “Why I Want to Make Peace with the Enemy” which is followed by a personal interview.

Each child is interviewed following the essay. Competition is quite intense, with over 1,000 children competing for the 130 places available at the camp.

Scholarships are provided to assure that children from refugee camps and other less fortunate youngsters are included.

The children that are chosen are offered an opportunity of a lifetime—they are flown to New York, then on to Boston for a couple of days where they visited places of interest, including a private session at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, before departing to Maine.

At the conclusion of their summer camp experience, they visited the nation’s capital. This summer the Seeds of Peace children met with Vice President Al Gore at the White House. The youngsters also met with Secretary of State Warren Christopher at the State Department, and were hosted to a Congressional luncheon in the Senate Caucus Room which was chaired by Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat, Vermont.

The camp’s director is Tim Wilson, who teaches language, arts and social studies to seventh graders in the inner city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during the school year. Wallach says the kids love him, and just as importantly, they respect him.

Wilson laughs when the Gazette asks him how he managed to gain both the admiration and affection of the children. “The kids are like open books for me, but I had to learn how to stand in the middle.”

“I have seen kids with huge schisms in their lives become close friends. I am really proud of what occurred between these kids.”

Wilson says he developed an appreciation for the Middle East when he served in the Peace Corps 30 years ago and had the opportunity to visit Lebanon, Yemen, and Egypt. The trip, he said, “had a tremendous effect upon me.”

Wilson said that as a result of spending three weeks with the children, “they become an extension of my family—and of our lives.”

The Camp’s counselors and escorts are also a reason for success of Seeds of Peace, Wilson said. The escorts – who are also chosen by each country—accompany each group and serve as their “parents” in the camp. “I found the escorts are tremendous people,” Wilson explained, “Some are like Mother Theresa’s, others keep a slight distance … And a couple have become real friends.”

Reflecting on the camp, Wilson said that some US educators – have only heard about, but not seen, the camp—have been critical of the camp’s methods. Wilson regrets their unwillingness to learn from the camp’s experience. It’s really been difficult at times for me, that we can’t seem to do the same in our own backyard, what these kids are able to accomplish between nations.”

“The camp has changed my life in a lot of ways. The things I’ve seen these kids try to accomplish only makes me wish we could attempt the same objectives here in The States,” Wilson said.

During the luncheon at the Senate Hall, where the Gazette finally caught up with the youngsters, the gallery was packed with Washington’s political leaders: Senators, congressmen, ambassadors and politicians—but the one that most impressed the children was basketball player from the Denver Nuggets, Tickley Loemombo. “You guys represent a great future,” he said during his short speech. The children gave him a standing ovation.

Two children—Laith Arafeh, a Palestinian who lives on the West Bank; and Yehoyada Mandeel, who is known as YoYo and lives in Israel—typify the tragedy of their lives and the success of their Seeds of Peace experience. Laith and YoYo live less than 15 miles apart from each other, but they had to travel thousands of miles to the Seeds of Peace camp to meet and talk, and become friends. This is their third summer together in Maine. They are now both junior counselors and have become fast friends.

Recently, during an official visit to Israel, Warren Christopher, the US Secretary of State, asked to meet Laith and YoYo again. From the balcony of the secretary’s hotel, both children were able to point out their houses in the distance. It has been said that this incident really helped put a human touch on Christopher’s understanding of the Palestinian and Israeli problem.

While they were in Washington this summer, Christopher made sure to invite Laith and YoYo, and all the children in the Seeds of Peace program, to a special reception at the State Department.

The children themselves are best qualified to explain the value of the Seeds of Peace experience: “In the beginning, it wasn’t easy,” says Tamer Nagy, a 15-year-old Egyptian boy who is back for his third summer. “It wasn’t like we said ‘Hi. We’re friends.’ All my life, what I’ve grown up on, (is that) Israel is our enemy. Then we begin to talk.”

Mohammed Abdul Rahman, 15, is also from Cairo. This is the first year he has come to the States and participated in the Seeds of Peace camp. “These were the most wonderful two weeks in all my life,” he told the Gazette during lunch on Capitol Hill. He admitted, however, that the first day he arrived in camp; he wasn’t really mentally prepared for a camp experience and was somewhat “shocked” when he saw the living conditions—bunk beds and “shower facilities that seemed out in the woods.” He shared his cabin with Palestinians, Jordanians, Moroccans, and Israelis. “The first day we were really uneasy, but then we started talking … by the second day we were all friends.”

“We played together, slept and ate together, and even showered together for two weeks, we became more than friends, we became brothers.” Abdul Rahman said.

He explained that the “co-existence meetings”—where the youngsters discuss political issues—were sometimes difficult. “Sometimes there was tension—I remember once I tried to calm my friends down who had disagreed on a subject—but we were able to reason out the issue immediately.”

Mohammad said the most touching incident for him was an incident that took place between a Serb and Bosnian child at camp. “I didn’t know much about this problem. At one point in the discussion a Serbian boy started to discuss his problem, and he told us that he really was a Croatian who had been forced to leave Croatia, and then he started to cry. We were all very moved.”

AlyEl-Alfy, 15, is from Egypt, and this also is his first time at Seeds of Peace Camp and in the United States. He told the Gazette, “Before I came here I thought I would not get along with the Israelis, but after I came to the camp and sat with them, I found they are just people … like me—they just come from another country.”

Aly said that his cabinmates were Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians. “Before I came to camp, I didn’t realize what danger many of them have to live with daily, and they explained to me what their lives are like for them, now I really feel—through the sympathy I feel for their situation—that I have to know more than just what the headlines in newspapers tell me. I have to be more receptive … their problems really moved me.”

Aly said that they prayed regularly. They made us go to Friday prayer.” He added that the Christians and Jews also had their services. “I went to a Jewish service and found it very interesting. Every religion has its commonalities,” he said.

When asked if the camp really made a difference in his attitude, he was adamant: “Yes, it really has.” His most special memory? “My short discussion with Laith from Palestine, he told me thing I never know about the Palestinians.”

Aminaben-Kinen, 15, is from Kenitra, Morocco. She told the Gazette she didn’t know anything about Seeds of Peace before coming. “I was afraid I wouldn’t get along with other Arabs,” she said, “because I was brought up in a French speaking family. I knew there would be a language barrier, because I don’t speak Arabic—Classical Arabic—very well. But I found we are all the same.”

“Everyone spoke to each other, sometimes there were shocks and tension, and even crying, but everyone consoled each other,” Amina added. “We all became very close friends.”

“What I learned is that we are all the same. It really marked me.” Amina said that one of the most touching moments of the trip for her was one evening when the children were given the opportunity to sing their national anthems. “The Serbs and Bosnians sang the same national anthem. It was very moving.”

“There was no religious barrier,” she said. “Everybody was tolerant. And if someone felt wounded about what was being said, the counselors were wonderful because they really put in a lot of time and effort to make us feel really comfortable.”

One such counselor is Anil Soni, a sophomore at Harvard. Anil said he also wasn’t quite sure as to what to expect. “I had my hesitations about how effective it could be—there is a fine line between talking about political issues and forming friendships.”

Anil said the formula worked for the youngsters because they played games together. “The common denominator was through sports, and playing games. So when the evening came and they talked about political issues, they found it was hard to hate the person they had been playing with all day long. It was the dynamic that was very effective.”

“I don’t know if the kids realized this or not,” Anil told the Gazette, “but Seeds of Peace is a strategy … They seek to decrease the amount of hatred and prejudice and increase the amount of hope.”

“The strategy in a nutshell,” Anil continued, “is to let them get to know each other, and then sit them down and let them talk. When you listen to your friends you care about what they have to say. First you sympathize with them, then you empathize, and then it all turns to friendship. Empathy is the key to friendship, which in turn is the key to peace.”

President Clinton told the kids, when he met them at the White House last year that: “Leaders make policy, but people make peace.” And that’s the idea behind this whole experience because these will be the people who will have the responsibility of making or breaking peace.

“Our hope was not to give the kids resolutions to their conflicts,” Anil said, reflecting on his role as counselor. Because that would be a deception—we cannot give them any solutions, but we can create an environment in which they learn and listen and empathize with each other. They will return [to their homes] more open-minded. And being open-minded is a quality that is easy to recognize and emulate.”

Daniel Shinar, 14, is an Israeli from Jerusalem. This is his first year in the Seeds of Peace Program and first time to the United States. Daniel told the Gazette that before he came to camp, he didn’t have any Palestinian friends, even though they share the same city. But now, he said, he has close friendships with Palestinians, and he believes they could talk about anything together.

When asked how he thought his Israeli friends would react when he told them he now had Palestinian friends, he said, “Most of my friends won’t understand. But I have some smart friends who will understand. The sooner we make friends with Palestinians the better it will be for us.”

Daniel said the most discussed question was “can we share Jerusalem?” He said the group decided that it was best to leave it as it is now—part for Jews and parts for Muslims and Christians. He said he didn’t agree totally with this, but that, as a result of being at camp, it “changed my mind. We have the same God. There are so many things that we have in common.”

When asked about what had touched him the most during his Seeds of Peace experience, he spoke about a Jordanian friend he had gotten to know. Halfway through the camp stay, his friend had come to him and said he was going to miss him. Daniel said he didn’t understand the point his friend was trying to make, because they still had one more week together in camp. But his Jordanian friend explained he was already missing him because they may never meet again. “We really became good friends,” he said. “I could never have believed that an Arab would say he would miss me, it really touched me very much.”

Family Gathering
The Jerusalem Post

Sep 7, 2006 / No Comments

BY RYAN NADEL | JERUSALEM As the final rays of the summer sun drifted through the large windows, participants of the Seeds of Peace Cafe gathered in a luxuriously appointed room at the American Colony Hotel.

The Seeds of Peace Cafe, a program run by the organization Seeds of Peace, is a forum for individuals from Jewish, Arab and Christian communities to become acquainted with each other in an apolitical environment.

“The Cafe allows people to learn about each other’s customs,” explained Dorothy Gitter Harman, co-coordinator of the Seeds of Peace Cafe.

This event, the first since the closing of the Jerusalem center and the inaugural gathering after the summer break, featured descendants from two of the oldest and most prominent Jerusalem families—the Alamis and the Havilios.

The Seeds of Peace Cafe program was initiated last February, this being the sixth meeting. The title for the evening was “Tales of Prominent Jerusalem Families: Jewish, Christian and Muslim as told by Muhammad Alami and Abraham Havilio, Lovers of Jerusalem and Marvelous Story-Tellers.

As the participants found their seats, music floated above the conversations in the room, accenting the mixture of Arabic, Hebrew and English with a Mediterranean rhythm. Teenagers sporting the green Seeds of Peace T-shirts punctuated the mature, distinguished crowd with a sense of youth.

Harman called the program to order and reminisced about a time in Jerusalem when Arabs, Jews and Christians “lived, labored, laughed and experienced life together,” before introducing the men who lived during this period and remembered what that life was like.

“The idea is to have Jews, Muslims and Christians meet and talk about different things in which politics does not have a place, to get together and get to know each other,” said Dr. Muhammad Dajani, co-coordinator of the cafe with Harman. “We are here to talk about coexistence during a time in the past when conflict did not exist, when we lived as one.”

Avraham Havilio, 76, a man whose presence emits the type of wisdom gained through experience, then took the microphone. Speaking with sweeping hand gestures, he introduced his tales with the title, “Once Upon a Time.”

Havilio opened his presentation by expressing his belief that talking and understanding each other—even if in disagreement—is the beginning of ideological unity, “because understanding is the first step toward agreement.”

His voice filled the room as he recounted the history of his family in Jerusalem, beginning in 1265. He emphasized that his family was always involved in both the commercial and communal aspects of the city, and distributed pictures of family members and artifacts documenting his family’s illustrious Jerusalem heritage. Havilio Sweets, which was sold 10 years ago, has been a feature of the Jerusalem landscape for about 250 years. The company operated out of a small factory in Jerusalem and was sold by stores in the area.

Havilio called upon his friends in the audience to share memories of their father’s and grandfather’s era.

Dr. Ali Qleibo, himself an expert on the ancient families of Jerusalem and author of a book on the subject, told of a time when “Jerusalem was not segregated, it was one city and we coexisted as a matter of the course of life, it was a time when people interacted on a personal level.”

Another friend of Havilio’s, Albert Hazan, born in Jerusalem during the 1930s, recounted school boy adventures with Arab and Christian friends. “We would walk the streets of Jerusalem with joy, not fear,” he reminisced. “My stories of Jerusalem are the stories of the love of two boys from two different worlds.”

Hazan expressed wishful sentiment that the stories of past cross-cultural friendships “blossom into friendships of the future.”

Havilio concluded his stories and turned the microphone over to Dr. Muhammad Alami, who immediately commented that he is too much of an academic to tell stories, admitting he is “too young to know the stories firsthand, but not too young to know what society was like.”

Alami, in his early 60s, explained that historically, connection to society focused on associations with institutions, all of which were religious and created the great families of Jerusalem. However, he added, when the institutions collapsed in the 19th century, the dynamic of the families and society changed.

Alami remarked that “during the Ottoman Empire, the city was very calm” and society was unchanging and “stagnant.”

The floor was then opened to all for comments and stories. As Havilio had hoped, by the end of the evening it was clear that all in attendance had a better understanding of what Jerusalem life was once like.

As the evening concluded, attendees mingled and shared their own stories and memories of old Jerusalem. Their conversations of times past drifted into the evening sky.

Wil Smith touched many lives in his many roles as coach, mentor and counselor
Portland Press Herald

Feb 24, 2015 / No Comments

The 2000 Bowdoin College graduate died Sunday from colon cancer, leaving what Sen. Angus King called “a hole in the heart of our community.”

Whether he was coaching young girls to play basketball or counseling teenagers from a war-torn region of the world, Wil Smith was always there when he was needed.

“He had boundless energy and enthusiasm for life,” said Tim Gilbride, the men’s basketball coach at Bowdoin. “And that was contagious to other people. He could get people to do things that they didn’t think they could do.”

Smith died Sunday in Philadelphia after a three-year battle with colon cancer. He was 46 years old. Smith was remembered Monday as a caring man who affected everyone he met.

“He was a giant of a person,” said Tim Foster, dean of students at Bowdoin College, who both counseled Smith as a student and later worked with him. “He was not only a friend, but a teacher to me as well. And that’s what I’m going to hold on to most.”

Maine Sen. Angus King paid tribute to Smith in a statement submitted Monday to the U.S. Congressional Record.

“There is a hole in the heart of our community today,” King wrote. “But while Wil’s loss is felt by countless people, his legacy will be carried on by the thousands who were fortunate enough to know him.”

Smith worked at Bowdoin as associate dean of multicultural student programs and served as head basketball coach at Catherine McAuley High in Portland for four years. Most recently, he was dean of community and multicultural affairs at the Berkshire School in Sheffield, Massachusetts, where he was also the girls’ basketball coach.

Smith was also the associate director of the Seeds of Peace International Camp in Otisfield, where he counseled children from often-warring countries from 1999 through last summer.

“He had a gift,” said Tim Wilson, a senior adviser for Seeds of Peace. “He knew how to listen. You have to learn how to sit and listen to whatever people have to say before you interrupt. He did that with the kids, whether they were playing basketball or whatever. He allowed them to say what needed to be said.

“He was just a wonderful human being. And that’s what I am going to miss.”

Gilbride, who coached Smith at Bowdoin and remained a close friend, added, “He really loved kids. And they could see that in him. Kids can tell right away if someone is genuine. He knew, if the kids had someone who could believe in them, they could succeed in ways they never imagined.”

Smith’s philosophy was simple. In a 2007 profile of him on “NBC Nightly News,” he said, “I think more than anything, young people need to know that the people who love them are going to love them no matter what.”

Sports agent Arn Tellem, who is on the Seeds of Peace board of directors, got to know Smith over the past decade. Tellem would bring NBA players to the camp each summer and said Smith earned their respect.

“Wil embodied the spirit of Jackie Robinson’s quote, ‘A life is not important except for the impact it has on other lives,’ ” said Tellem in an email. “By this measure, Wil’s life was greatly important. He walked the walk every day of his life. Wil gave back much more than he ever received and made a huge difference in the lives of everyone who came in contact with him.”

Smith never considered anything he did special. “It’s hard for me to see my life’s work as being extraordinary,” he said in a 2007 Press Herald interview.

But Smith was never your typical coach, or college student. His players at McAuley, where he compiled a 54-26 record and won a Western Class A title, remember him as open and caring.

“There are a lot of things about him that I will remember,” said Ashley Cimino, who went on to play at Stanford University. “He was just a very inspirational person. He was a great motivator, he was someone we could always talk to. He was always open to us. And he was a great dancer.”

“We always had dance parties where he would show us his moves,” said Carolyn Freeman, who played three years for Smith at McAuley. “He was just a genuine person. You knew he cared for you as a person.”

A LIFE SHAPED BY CHALLENGES

His life’s story was so captivating that he was featured on “The Today Show” and “Oprah.”

Smith was the first single father to attend and graduate from Bowdoin (class of 2000), according to the school. His daughter Olivia often accompanied him to class, basketball practices and, eventually, his graduation ceremony. According to Bowdoin, Sony Pictures is interested in making a movie about his life.

Smith grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, and lost his mother to cancer on his 15th birthday. He was starring in sports at the time, but her death changed that. “My mother was my biggest fan,” he once said. After she died, he wasn’t sure why he should continue to play. He attended Florida A&M University for a year, then dropped out. Eventually he joined the Navy and served in the first Gulf War.

Smith was based at the Naval Air Station in Brunswick when he volunteered to coach middle school football and basketball. Eventually he met Gilbride, who was taken by Smith’s character.

Gilbride convince Smith to apply to Bowdoin. Smith was 27. He was accepted but shortly before he was to begin classes, he was given sole custody of Olivia, then 11 months old.

He was immediately overwhelmed—by the classes, by single-parenthood and by his finances. He often went without eating so he could afford food for Olivia. He had no day care, so he brought her to classes. He lost about 20 pounds.

Eventually, after failing a Latin America Studies class because he couldn’t afford the books, Smith met with Bowdoin officials. They got him an apartment and a meal plan for both him and his daughter. A Bowdoin alum donated $25,000 to cover her child care.

Smith flourished in the classroom and on the basketball court where, Gilbride said, “he was hard-working, very team-oriented. What a surprise there.”

In a 2012 National Public Radio interview with Smith and his daughter, Smith said Olivia’s presence helped him grow. “There were times when the only way I could get through was to come in and look at you when you were sleeping,” he said to her. “And then go back to my studies.”

Foster, who met with Smith on the first day of his job at Bowdoin, said for all his life experiences, Smith never talked about his life.

“He was so completely unassuming and that made him all the more remarkable,” said Foster.

Bowdoin now presents an annual Wil Smith Community Service Award, which honors community work by a student-athlete.

Joe Kilmartin, the athletic director at McAuley, said the school will hold a memorial service for Smith, though the date has not been set.

‘ALWAYS THERE FOR KIDS’

“He was just so open and available to everybody all the time,” said Kilmartin. “He was always there for the kids, and not just McAuley kids. He was there for everybody.”

Kilmartin said Smith also ran a program on ethical leadership at the school for two years. “He was in the school as more than just a basketball coach.”

Those closest to Smith knew his health had taken a turn for the worse in December. Smith missed Wilson’s birthday on Jan. 23.

“He never missed it,” Wilson said. “That’s when I knew something was wrong.”

Bowdoin’s Foster and many members of the Seeds of Peace organization visited Smith in Philadelphia, where he was hospitalized, last week. They were joined by family members, former students and friends.

“If there was an inspiring part, it was seeing all those people there,” said Foster. “There were so many for whom he had been a mentor and role model and coach, and to see them all come together made you realize the number of lives this person touched.”

Read Mike Lowe’s story at the Portland Press Herald ››

Brad Meltzer on ‘I Am Gandhi’ and peace in a divided world

Jun 11, 2018 / No Comments

Author Brad Meltzer published his first novel while still in law school at the age of 26.

Since then, he has gone on to become a perennial New York Times best-selling author for fiction and nonfiction alike, and received an Eisner Award for his work writing comic book superheroes. Now, Brad is using his craft to inspire young people with stories of real-life heroes.

Brad recently teamed up with an all-star roster of 25 artists to publish I Am Gandhi, a graphic novel about Gandhi and his lessons, with proceeds from the book supporting our organization.

We had the opportunity to talk with Brad about this ambitious project, and what values he hopes to instill in today’s young leaders.

Seeds of Peace: Can you talk a bit about your connection to Seeds of Peace, and your prior experience with us?

Brad: It was actually over a decade ago, when an Israeli friend told me about the summer camps that Seeds of Peace does—putting Israeli and Palestinian kids in the same summer camp. I remember him saying that on the first night, both sides can’t sleep because they think someone on the other side will kill them. And within days, they become friends with each other. I’ll never forget that. It is proof that hate is taught.

Seeds of Peace: What drew you to our mission?

Brad: I’m building an army of smart children, arming them with compassion, kindness, and justice. That’s what books are designed to do.

I am fighting with my words, with my art, with my books, and with the greatest comic book artists in the world. We will arm a generation of children with the teachings of Gandhi, and Dr. King, and Rosa Parks. And we will bring peace. It aligned perfectly with Seeds of Peace.

Seeds of Peace: What inspired you to tell Gandhi’s story? Was there anything you hoped to achieve when you started writing I Am Gandhi?

Brad: Look around. We are a country at odds with itself, each side convinced we’re right—we’re in the middle of a massive culture war. We’ve been playing this terrible game for years: it’s called Us vs. Them. I’m tired of Us vs. Them. It’s time to get back to We. Gandhi—as someone dedicated to peace—seemed like the perfect hero to help us get there.

Seeds of Peace: You’re certainly no stranger to the comics community, but why did you decide to tell this story in particular as a graphic novel?

Brad: My son. On election night, I watched the country ripping itself apart. It was terrible. At that moment, I gave my 16-year-old son a copy of the I Am Gandhi script. There was no art for it yet. But I wanted him to read the words … to learn Gandhi’s lessons. As I read over his shoulder, I realized: Wait, I need this lesson too. We all need this lesson of peace. So I immediately thought: I can make a comic with this. From there, I called my closest friends from DC and Marvel. And the comic was born.

Seeds of Peace: Did you encounter any new opportunities—or challenges—from working with so many different artists?

Brad: I suddenly became an editor, working with each artist, keeping the trains running. It was hard managing schedules and getting people to finish on time, but the truth was, it was just incredible to see each page as it came in. These artists inspired me. They are the stars. They’re the ones who brought Gandhi’s adventures to life.

Seeds of Peace: Is there anything that you learned from the process of writing I Am Gandhi?

Brad: Just how hard it is to be a comic book editor at DC and Marvel!

We congratulate Brad on the release of I Am Gandhi, and we’re excited to have him as a partner in our shared mission. Purchase the graphic novel; all proceeds will go to Seeds of Peace!

Seeds of Peace: The summer of our discontent
Jewish Journal

Jul 6, 2016 / No Comments

At age 15, I had barely interacted with a boy, let alone a Jew.

For a teenager living in Lahore, Pakistan, in 2001, the Middle East was a faraway place of despair and blood, and I knew almost nothing about it. From my father’s BBC fixation, I’d picked up that it was a place where restaurants were sometimes blown up by suicide bombers. At the time, the idea of a war that came to the city streets strapped to the chests of men was terrifying and new.

I was to learn a great deal about the nature of war when my parents allowed me to attend a summer camp called Seeds of Peace in the United States, just a few months before 9/11 transformed the world. Located in Maine, the camp was founded in 1993 by John Wallach — a journalist who had covered the Middle East for decades as foreign editor for Hearst Newspapers and the BBC. His radical idea was to cultivate future leaders from communities divided by conflict, with an initial focus on Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian teenagers. From only 46 campers in its first year, the program has by now grown to 300 teenagers each summer, including an American delegation every year. Headquartered in New York, the program has offices in Kabul, Afghanistan; Amman, Jordan; Mumbai, India; Lahore and Jerusalem, with more than 6,000 alumni who partake in regular local and international follow-up engagements.

In the summer of 2001, I was a member of the first India-Pakistan delegation to attend the camp; a dozen of us came from Lahore and a dozen from Mumbai — that strange city by the Arabian Sea manufacturing the famed ballads of Bollywood. Our two nations have been at de facto war since 1947, when the decolonized Indian subcontinent was divided into two countries: Muslim majority Pakistan and Hindu majority India. Kashmir — the land of valleys — is the bloody legacy of that partition, with both countries laying claim to the northern state, where 12 million people reside.

Despite rigid brainwashing endorsed by our respective education ministries, we quickly grew to be friends with the Indians. We laughed together in Urdu and Hindi, argued about cricket and spent hours debating our history, within days realizing we had been taught different versions of the same events. On the first morning after our arrival, I hung my head upside down from the top bunk to say hello to the enemy below. Her name was Tulsi Mehta, and, 15 years later, ours continues to be a great friendship.

The first time we saw the Israelis and Palestinians at camp, however, they were intimidating. They held onto a breed of anger separate from ours, they knew too much, they talked too much — on both sides they were the unafraid spokespeople for their states. Though they were the same age as the rest of us, nothing about them made them seem like children. Their war made our war seem like a bit of a farce; a sham skirmish fought through propaganda and by soldiers in faraway mountains we had never seen.

In the years immediately after my summer in America, it was difficult to foresee the extent of the violence that would come to Pakistan, a relatively stable state with an enormous security apparatus. Nobody could have imagined that in only 10 years, the country would be left mutilated by suicide attacks, reeling beneath the weight of the U.S.-led invasion of neighboring Afghanistan, which morphed into domestic terrorism and major military operations in the north. War came marching down our streets, into our playgrounds, schools and bazaars, strapped to the chests of terrible men.

So many years on, what remains of that camp in my memory is a hazy recollection of laughter and bewilderment. There was swimming, rock-climbing, singing and dancing, but also “dialogue sessions,” during which opposing delegations participated in daily three-hour debates. After one, a Palestinian boy ran by our group in tears, then sat on the pier overlooking the lake until the sun nearly set. Two Israeli girls joined him, and I still recall the three small backs bent against the horizon. Sometimes it struck us that we were children hunted and haunted by each other’s people. Most of the time, we forgot.

At that age, we did not comprehend the profound impression the camp would make on our lives, freeing our minds in ways that would affect us as we became adults, parents, professionals and leaders in a world of ever more globalized conflict. I know politicians, writers, activists and soldiers who are Seeds graduates. Many of us have gone on to become journalists, among us Mujib Mashal, now a reporter for The New York Times, who was part of the first Afghan delegation to attend the camp in 2002; and Nergish Sunavala, a reporter for the Times of India, who was at camp with me. I recognize the skinny girl with the gentle voice and bushy hair in the impassioned stories she writes for her country.

Most of the campers who attended Seeds of Peace were chosen by their governments, and we came armed with sacred agendas, in the end surrendering the only truths we knew to the cause of civic discourse. As true of the Palestinian refugees and the Israeli Jews, the Pakistanis and the Indians, Seeds of Peace broke us all. Though it has now been 15 years since I first ate at a table with Jews and Hindus, those lessons guide my hand when I write my stories even today. I have Jewish friends from camp with whom I am still in touch, and knowing them has made it easier for me to challenge the problematic generalizations rampant in Pakistan’s religious and political discourse. Nobody could have anticipated then how much more important this would become for us, that in just a few months, our conflicts would merge and re-create themselves in almost all regions of the earth. This changing world order made the inclusion of a U.S delegation all the more important, with young American campers able to engage without bias in political dialogue with Afghans, Israelis, Jordanians, Palestinians and Pakistanis, to name a few — people they might never otherwise encounter in their lives.

Attacks of terror occur daily around today’s world, like the trio of suicide bombs that went off in Istanbul, in Europe’s third-busiest airport last week, targeting the heart of Turkey’s internationalism. Or, two days later, the horrifying, senseless murder of 13-year-old Hallel Yaffa Ariel as she slept in her Kiryat Arba bedroom.

The hate, racism, corruption and violence of war is now so pervasive that no place is truly safe from it, except for, perhaps, the minds of children, where different ideas may still flourish like they did in ours.

It was a great gesture of grace for our parents to knowingly expose us, their children, to Seeds of Peace — to a narrative that would challenge theirs. For Palestinian and Israeli families, I imagine this act of letting go must be downright traumatic. Still, it leaves me with great hope in the institution of parenting, and the belief that even in cynical and fearful adult hearts, there exists the awareness that there is a better way to win our wars.

Amal Khan, a journalist from Pakistan where she serves as features editor at The Nation, is currently contributing to the Jewish Journal as part of her fellowship with the Daniel Pearl Foundation.

Read Amal Khan’s story at The Jewish Journal ››

Ned Lazarus Diary No. 4
Slate

Nov 8, 2001 / No Comments

An Arabic proverb says: Ma mahebba’ ila ba’ad adawa; there is no friend beloved like a former enemy. I’ve seen it happen, between those who least expected it, or I least expected it from them. I just learned the words of this proverb from a friend today; the meaning, I learned from an angry young Palestinian and a crazy Israeli settler.

The Seeds are not “self-selected.” National Ministries of Education choose the Israeli and Palestinian delegations. Each government makes sure to include hard-liners who will not “surrender” to the other side—firebrands who come to “win” the argument, not absorb a different perspective. They are only a part; the delegations represent a range of opinion. But the hard-liners—statements prepared and conclusions drawn before they arrive—are often the dominant presence.

As a counselor, at first I resented ideologues who seemed to scare other campers away from each other, reminding their own “who they are” before they got too close to the “enemy.” I was cured of this prejudice by two campers, a Palestinian and an Israeli, whom I had marked in my mind in their first summer sessions as “negative influences”—obstacles to peace. Looking back now, I’m grateful that they proved me dead wrong.

“Settler” is a trigger word for stereotypes, the Israeli equivalent of “terrorist” for Palestinians. Say the word and liberal Westerners, never mind Arabs, see Jewish vigilante gangs with rifles at the ready to intimidate innocent Arab farmers in their fields. And as there are real Palestinian terrorists, this sort of settler is no figment of imagination. These types of Israelis and Palestinians exist, and though their numbers should not be exaggerated, the impact of their violent excesses far exceeds their percentage of the populations. They’re small groups that cause big problems. Still, the Jewish fundamentalists of the hard-core settlements have little in common with many of the roughly 200,000 Israelis living in the West Bank, who moved there seeking economic incentives offered by right-wing governments and would move back if offered compensation by a government trying to build a real peace.

At first, I wasn’t sure which category suited Ronit, a Seed from a settlement northwest of Ramallah. In her first summer at camp, she was always with Israelis, speaking Hebrew in defiance of regulations—campers are required to speak English, so that everyone can join in discussions. Her body language around Palestinians broadcasted “Don’t mess.” After an Israeli parliamentarian visiting camp made bombastic declarations about Jerusalem, I overheard Ronit whispering excitedly, “Now we’ve got something to get those Arabs with in coexistence (discussion hour)!!!” I wondered to myself what she was doing at camp at all.

Nasser was a camp icon of Palestinian nationalism—he knew the words, the gestures, the attitude to awaken emotion in an Arab audience. He immediately established charismatic leadership among the Arab Seeds (especially the Egyptian girls). My most vivid memory of Nasser in his first camp summer is him leading a group singing nationalist songs. I didn’t know the songs or the words then, but the content was clear from the singers’ expressions and the brooding silence that fell upon them afterward.

At camp I essentially wrote both of them off as potential peacemakers. But back in the region, they promoted peace with the same passion that they stood for their countries at camp. Nasser called me the day I returned to the Holy Land. “I’m in Jerusalem,” he said. “I don’t have permission, so can you pick me up? I have to see Rina.” Rina was a friendly and liberal Israeli girl who seemed the antithesis of Nasser the nationalist. O me of little faith; these two opposites, as it turned out, were becoming good friends. Throughout the next years, they exchanged frequent visits and introduced each other’s families to the good side they had discovered on “the other side.”

Ronit left her settlement to attend every activity. She was the happiest Israeli on our home stay with the families of Jordanian Seeds. Not content with one journey, Ronit convinced her father to fly a Cessna plane across the river to Amman and meet her friend’s father, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin. Her enthusiasm hasn’t faded. This spring, three years after her summer at camp, Ronit pledged her allegiance to peace in the most permanent possible way, tattooing the Seeds symbol on her left shoulder (not, I emphasize under encouragement from any member of the staff—Seeds, if you’re reading, don’t try this at home!).

These hard-line Seeds made the most powerful presentations for peace. Their nationalist credentials made people take them seriously, recognizing that these Seeds had not been born into “the peace camp,” and spoke out of conviction. Ronit, on stage at a high school in right-wing Jerusalem, declared, “Look, it’s my house I’m talking about, so it’s not easy—but I’m telling you, they’re human beings, they have rights too, and we have to compromise with them.” The audience had earlier booed a different Israeli Seed, but our settler set them straight and they shut up and listened.

Nasser used his touch for stirring patriotism among the Arabs at camp to evoke empathy toward Israelis among Palestinian friends. He introduced classmates to his friend Rina, whom they acknowledged was human, even nice. He then initiated a class discussion on the topic: “If we win a war, what will we do with the Jewish civilians?” At first, the debate was whether to kill or deport. Nasser intervened. “What about Rina?” he asked, staring at the classmates who knew her. They agreed she could stay. “OK,” he said, “but people don’t come into this world by themselves. What about her family?” Her family was granted amnesty. “Well, if I was killed, you would feel angry, right? What about Rina’s friends?” They agreed—her friends should stay. “But wait,” Nasser continued, “her friends all have families and friends—so who are you going to kill?” Through one acquaintance, Nasser convinced his class of the humanity of the other side.

I was most surprised by the friendship that developed between the hard-liners themselves. Nasser and Ronit worked together at camp on an Israeli-Palestinian drama production and recognized some reflection of themselves in each other. It happened, apparently, during the most difficult discussions. “Rina is still my best Israeli friend,” Nasser confided in me, “but Ronit is the only Israeli that I ever cried for.” Ronit revealed that the respect was mutual on the next trip to Jordan (her third), reading for the group a poem she had written for “A Palestinian Friend”:

God gave us hearts
To love, or to hate
God gave us thoughts
To give, or to get
God gave us houses
To build, or to destroy
God gave us tears
For sadness, or for joy …
Most of all God gave us hands
To shake, or to fight
And that is the power
Of bringing the darkness or the light.

God gave all those things, to all of us, regardless on which side of the Green Line we happened to be born.

Read Ned Lazarus’ diary entry No. 4 at Slate »

The History Project: Inspiring Indian and Pakistani Children to Rethink the Past
The Diplomat

May 20, 2013 / 2 Comments

A new project questions India and Pakistan’s shared historical narrative.

Three young Pakistanis – Qasim Aslam, Ayyaz Ahmad and Zoya Siddiqui – are providing schoolchildren in India and Pakistan with an opportunity to critically analyze, evaluate and question significant events in their nations’ shared history and heritage.

The History Project, comprising excerpts from three Indian textbooks and nine Pakistani textbooks, provides students an illuminating comparison of the ways that key historical events – leading up to partition – are taught in schools in both countries.

Last month, Aslam, Ahmad and Siddiqui visited four schools in Mumbai – officially launching The History Project in India. Next month, the trio plans to introduce the project to schools across Pakistan, in the hope that it will spark healthy debate, underpinned by curiosity, impartiality, and an open-minded look at the tumultuous epoch that is India and Pakistan’s shared history.

According to Aslam, the inspiration for The History Project came in 2005 from Feruzan Mehta, the then Country Director (India) for Seeds of Peace, an international NGO that seeks to inspire and train new leaders from conflict zones to build a more peaceful future. The inspiration grew in the ensuing years, and Aslam and Ahmad finally decided to make their shared dream a reality two years ago.

In an exclusive interview with The Diplomat, the founders of The History Project speak about the laborious process that went into the compilation of the book, the importance of a solid artistic element to complement the book and their experience of formally introducing their project to children in India last month.

What inspired you to undertake The History Project?

Qasim Aslam: It informally started off around 12 years ago when we met Indians across the border for the first time in our lives. We were at this conflict resolution camp [Seeds of Peace, hosted in Maine, USA], where a dozen Indians and Pakistanis were brought to live together for three weeks.

Over the course of that time, in addition to playing sports and indulging in other activities together, we found history to be a recurring discussion in our interaction. In some cases, the conversations resulted in flared emotions. Over those three weeks, we didn’t quite reconcile our versions of history, but we did find it in ourselves to respect the alternative reality, its existence, and the fact that it was as authentic as ours.

In an effort to scale this process, as it is super expensive to fly a couple dozen kids from the region to the U.S., we came up with the concept of The History Project; which, in essence, is taking the process to the kids themselves.

Was compiling the book a difficult process?

Qasim Aslam: In retrospect, it was. It definitely was. We probably underestimated the task at hand when we set out to accomplish it. The first few months, we went around from expert to expert, trying to finalize the direction of the project. Everyone seemed to have an opinion – a legit, daunting contribution that sent us back to the drawing board more than once.

We finally reached a conclusion after four months of extensive deliberations. Mid-way through the project, we realized that we couldn’t put out a book in pure text. We’d lose the interest of our target readership, kids between the ages of 12 and 15. The prospect of finding a decent illustrator turned out to be a journey in its own.

And then came the grand finale of selling such an idea to the Indian High Commission for the purpose of visas, coordinating with schools across the border and a dozen other hoops that somehow got sorted out and we found ourselves in Mumbai one fine Monday morning in April this year.

Zoya, as the illustrator, tell us a little about the artistic element of the book. What did you visualize initially for the book and what did you think would work for your audience?

Zoya Siddiqui: I knew from the very beginning that the task would not be easy. An illustrator’s job is to very clearly show and reaffirm an opinion, whereas our idea for the whole project was to refrain from propagating our personal opinions and simply reproducing what information already exists in textbooks/history. The idea of a faceless man immediately struck as the solution to the problem.

The faceless man essentially depicts what we, the team, are doing: displaying established opinions as clothes or symbols that can be easily adopted, worn and shed. The faceless man has no symbols or opinions of his own, but he theatrically demonstrates both histories. History is thus shown not as absolute truth or “fact”, but rather as variable opinions and stereotypes. The truth is unknowable, like the faceless man.

Do you think children in Pakistan and India will be able to formulate their own opinions about their shared history after reading the book?

Zoya Siddiqui: Actually, we have not aimed for the children to formulate an opinion on Indo-Pakistani history when they read the book. Our goal is to trigger a thought process, to unsettle the students and confuse them, which is somewhat like what we went through after our Seeds of Peace camp experience. Even after all these years, we ourselves are struggling for answers.

However, the struggle is good, important and healthy. Having answers and well-formulated opinions, I personally believe, is dangerous. We wish for the students to get started on that journey to critical thinking, beyond textbooks.

Ayyaz, you and your team visited four schools in Mumbai last month. What was the response?

Ayyaz Ahmad: The response was phenomenal. The children and the teachers both were extremely interested to know and understand the Pakistani perspective. They also had a number of questions about Pakistan beyond the scope of history. They were quite curious about how Indian history was viewed in Pakistan and also about the cultural similarities between the two countries.

How did you go about contacting schools in India to introduce the book? Were they initially hesitant?

Ayyaz Ahmad: In India, Seeds of Peace put us in touch with the local schools. In Pakistan, we are reaching out to different schools through friends involved with educational institutions.

When will you introduce the book to schools in Pakistan?

Ayyaz Ahmad: We have already started a round of presentations in Pakistan. In the next month, we hope to visit a number of schools to introduce the initiative.

Through your research, what were some of the major discrepancies that you found in the textbooks?

Ayyaz Ahmad: The primary difference is in the way different aspects of the same event are highlighted. This also became our focus as we worked on the book. The idea was that instead of imposing another narrative or our opinion, we would simply lay out what has already been written, to show that history is extremely dynamic and is a combination of numerous perspectives.

What do you hope your initiative achieves?

Ayyaz Ahmad: The History Project initiative has a two-fold objective; first, to enable the youth in conflict-stricken countries to have access to the other side of conflict history in their formative years. And second, to get youth to question the generally accepted stereotypes (not just pertaining to history) which form the foundation of their ideologies. We hope that the books will instill in the youth, the importance of recognizing alternative perspectives; that there is always another side to every story.

Read Sonya Rehman’s article at The Diplomat  ››

Seeds of Peace
Middle East Insight Magazine

Mar 6, 1998 / No Comments

Leading the Leaders

BY MEREDITH KATZ | On September 29, 1996, fighting flared between Israeli and Palestinian soldiers in the wake of Israel’s opening of an exit to an archaeological tunnel near the El Aksa Mosque. But unknown to the youthful troops, another group of Arab and Israeli teenagers—in Jordan and Egypt as well as in Israel and the Palestinian territories—mobilized for battle. Using their computers, fax machines and telephones, these 16-to-18 year-olds sent e-mails and other messages across their borders seeking a way to end the fighting. They shared their fears and offered each other comfort amidst the growing confusion and uncertainty.

Recalled an Israeli youth: “When everything started, I felt very confused. It felt like my mind was divided into two parts. One part felt protected and secure when I saw the soldiers and tanks getting ready to go into the territories. That part of me felt that we should teach the Palestinians a lesson and show them how powerful we are. But there was another part, a part which was created only after our involvement with Seeds of Peace, that felt that what was happening was wrong—that war is wrong. That part knew that there must be another way, a better way. But most of the people don’t have a second part. I pray that Binyamin Netanyahu and Yasser Arafat have the second part.”

After these words were sent to the growing network of several hundred Seeds of Peace alumni, an idea began to take shape. Why not expand these thoughts and draft a joint Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian-Egyptian statement that could be sent directly to the leaders themselves? After all, at Seeds of Peace—a conflict-resolution program that has brought together more than 600 Arab and Israeli teenagers at a summer camp in Maine—one of the lessons everyone learned was that peace is too precious to be left to the leaders themselves.

As the death toll in the West Bank mounted, a core group worked into the night to draft a joint declaration. By the time it was concluded, President Clinton had called an emergency summit in Washington. Summoned to the White House were Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. “When out youngsters’ joint declaration arrived on our e-mail, we sent it directly to [then-White House official] Jay Footlik,” recalled John Wallach, the award-winning journalist and founder of Seeds of Peace. “We had no idea what happened to it after that.”

Aware that something more was needed to bring the leaders back to the negotiating table, something to repair their shattered trust, President Clinton decided to use the words of these young Arabs and Israelis. At the start of the second day of meetings, Clinton read aloud the words of these teenagers. “We ask you to reach a compromise, a fast solution to save us from the potential disaster,” the declaration read. “We support you and we are behind you for every step of this long and hard path. Be strong and brave for all of us, for only the brave can make real peace.” It was a small stroke perhaps, but an endearing and human one. It was, after all, the trust they had built and the understanding they had reached while living together at camp in the Maine woods that had compelled them to reach out to the political leaders.

No one believes that even the most compassionate words on paper can extinguish the flames of a century-old conflict. But neither should the role of these teenagers be minimized. They have proved, on countless occasions, that they can be a force for change, even with leaders who at times are stymied by a lack of confidence and understanding. In the five years since Seeds of Peace was founded, these youngsters have had the chance to express their desire to President Clinton on two occasions, to Vice President Gore, to former Secretary of State Warren Christopher on three occasions, and—on four separate occasions—to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Since the September 1993 White House signing of the Israeli-Palestinian Declaration of Principles—where the first group of 48 Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian graduates were honored guests—Seeds of Peace has produced a cadre of Israeli and Arab teenagers poised to lead their nations toward peace in the twenty-first century.

Bill Clinton has never forgotten the inspiration the first group of youngsters provided on that day he had to persuade Arafat and Rabin to shake hands for the first time. “I met the Seeds of Peace children at the 1993 ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House … these were the children wearing green T-shirts who flanked many of our world leaders and reminded us of the agreement’s true significance to our future,” Clinton recalled. “These young men and women told me that in just a few short weeks, first names replaced ethnic and religious labels, mistrust turned into curiosity; fear gave way to friendship. Seeds of Peace is doing the hard work of building peaceful coexistence—one relationship at a time.

Support in the region itself has been equally encouraging. King Hussein, who hosted a reunion of 300 Seeds of Peace graduates in Jordan in 1996, recently recalled, “I met with Seeds of Peace in Amman about a year ago and I shook hands with all of them. And what struck me was the fact that I could not distinguish an Israeli from a Palestinian from an Egyptian. One of the most encouraging elements of life in recent years is how much we can learn from these children. Give them the chance to remove the barriers that separate them—the walls through which they cannot see each other—give them the opportunity to come together, and they will.”

For Secretary of State Albright, the optimism and achievement of Seeds of Peace graduates in overcoming their peoples’ history of war and suffering are a powerful indication of what is possible in the Middle East. These youngsters’ testaments are a source of inspiration for her to trudge on despite the setbacks and disappointments.

Shortly after delivering her maiden Middle East speech, which contained a paragraph about Seeds of Peace, she met with a group of 165 graduates. One of them, a young Israeli woman named Noa, told Albright that she would never forget being comforted by a Palestinian teenager after the bombing in the Jerusalem’s Mahne Yehuda market that claimed 13 Israeli lives. “A spark was lit inside my heart, a spark that makes me see things in a different light,” Noa told the Secretary. Visibly moved, Albright rose and remarked, “Don’t be surprised if some of those statements show up in my speeches. I think ‘lighting a spark in your heart’ is terrific. And if I may steal that from you, I will.”

Albright then paid the highest tribute to the assembled youth, saying, “I [recently] gave my first speech on the Middle East. And as people … know, it was a pretty tough speech … But I insisted that it have a spark of hope, and that was when I discussed your program, Seeds of Peace—because I believe that what you are doing is so important to what we’re all trying to achieve in the Middle East.”

Under Secretary of State Thomas Pickering—a former U.S. ambassador to both Jordan and Israel—has also been profoundly affected by these kids, as he told a gathering at the Wye Plantation Conference Center. “Secretary Albright recently hosted Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian, Jordanian, Moroccan, Tunisian and Qatari youth participating in the Seeds of Peace summer camp,” Pickering noted. “I don’t think the Secretary will be angry if I say that it was not her eloquent speech at that ceremony that made the greatest impression on me. It was the surprisingly frank admission of a Palestinian girl that, if she had been home at the time of the July 30 bombing in Jerusalem, she would not have cared about it. But, because she had spent time with Israeli young people and heard their perspective—as they had hers—she immediately cried when learning of the bombing. I can use many dry words to say that the parties to the peace process must take each other’s interests and concerns into account if this process is to succeed. But I think that girl’s message said it more eloquently than I ever could.”

Young people traditionally learn key lessons from their elders. But sometimes it is the elders—the negotiators and political leaders—who learn the most important lessons of all from young people.

Afghan Seed named debate’s top speaker

Jun 13, 2015 / No Comments

KABUL | Eleven Junior Seeds competed alongside 30 other students from nine schools in the 2015 High School Debate Tournament on June 12th at the Jahan e Noor Institute of Higher Education in Kabul. The team from Ghulam Haidar Khan High School emerged as the 2015 tournament champions and Afghan Seed Faisal was named the debate’s best speaker.

“Seeds of Peace provided me a valuable opportunity, giving me the chance to compete in the debate championship against very intelligent competitors,” said Faisal.

“The celebration and people coming up to me and congratulating me was very exciting. The offers of future opportunities are equally thrilling. I know the debate championship has given my life a fresh transformation (and) it has taken me a step closer to my ambitions. Thank you, Seeds of Peace.”

The one-day debate tournament was sponsored by Seeds of Peace, the Jahan e Noor Institute, New Generation Organization and the Afghanistan Youth Education and Social Organization.

The debaters were assessed on their ability to communicate their ideas in a structured and organized manner, as well as thinking about a topic from a different perspective or angle. Secondly, the debaters had to demonstrate critical reasoning skills and respectful listening skills, rather than immediately respond via a counterpoint. At the end of the tournament, Afghan Seed Faisal was named the debate’s best speaker.

As the championship trophy was awarded, representatives of the Jahan e Noor Institute announced that they would provide scholarships to the winning team–an announcement that left the students excited and encouraged.

Israeli and Palestinian kids plant the Seeds of Peace
Kids Copy

Nov 30, 1993 / No Comments

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?