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Voices beyond the United Nations | Newsletter

Sep 21, 2011 / No Comments

Dear Friends,

Just a few blocks from our offices, politicians at the United Nations are debating Palestinian statehood and deadlocked negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Meanwhile, in the Middle East, a new generation of leaders is meeting face-to-face and strengthening the relationships and skills necessary for lasting peace.

This weekend, 76 of our newest Israeli and Palestinian Seeds reunited in Jerusalem to launch a year of robust regional programs. Their peers from Egypt, Jordan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, as well as the United States are doing the same.

As action packed as this summer was—with over 300 Seeds participating in Camp, Seas of Peace, People Power in Jordan and the American Seeds visit to the Middle East—our staff in the Middle East and South Asia are planning an even busier fall!

Seeds will be meeting regularly for continued dialogue, leadership training, community development, and professional skill-building. Older Seeds will be preparing to lead dialogue sessions with fellow Israeli and Palestinians through our year-long facilitation and conflict transformation course in Jerusalem that will create a rare and critical facility for Israelis and Palestinians to engage in constructive conversations.

The leadership and engagement of our Seeds will have a profound and much needed impact on the communities that surround them.

Today we watch closely as regional tensions increase surrounding the events at the UN. Whatever the outcome of these events, our Seeds will continue to have the opportunity to engage with each other in ways their leaders cannot. So today, we take a moment to remind our courageous Seeds of the importance of their work together.

Thank you for providing our Seeds with the opportunity to build the foundation of a peaceful future.

Leslie
Leslie Adelson Lewin
Executive Director
 
PS: GREAT NEWS! Today, International Peace Day, we are excited to announce that Seeds of Peace has been selected by Chase Community Giving as one of only 25 participants in their Fall 2011 online voting competition. Stay tuned for how you can help secure up to $1M for our programs! (We’ll need all the support we can get—you can start by ‘liking’ us on Facebook.)
 

Seeds Impact
 

Sowing Peace
Asian Geographic

Aug 2, 2017 / No Comments

Seeds of Peace educates and inspires youth from around the world to transform conflict—sowing unlikely friendships in the midst of political turmoil

Two years ago, while in Amman for a two-week workshop with organisation Photographers Without Borders, Maggie Svoboda took an image that, to the average onlooker, appeared to be nothing out of the ordinary.

In the photograph, two women—named Ruba and Alina—are locked in an affectionate embrace, beaming at the camera. What Svoboda’s portrait of friendship did not reveal at first glance is the politically-charged back story: one woman is Palestinian, and the other is Israeli.

Locked in political dispute since the early 20th century, Palestinians and Israelis have raged a series of wars against one another in the fight for separate, independent control of this contested territory. Heightened tensions from Arab Muslims and Jewish civilians who reside in such close living quarters have bred a long history of violence.

Civil wars have ravaged the territory: the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, and the Six-Day War of 1967, which concluded with Israel occupying two critical landmasses, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Many Jewish minority communities were exposed and subsequently displaced within Palestinian-occupied neighbourhoods. The ancient Palestinian city of Hebron in the landlocked West Bank is the only city where Israeli citizens live in relative peace alongside Palestinians. It is currently under Israeli control.

Despite being pitted against one another for decades, Svoboda’s sunny portrait suggests that many young Palestinians and Israelis are ready for change.

Enter Seeds of Peace, a not-for-profit initiative with a network of more than 6,400 alumni scattered throughout the Middle East, South Asia, Europe, and North America.

The organisation works tirelessly to educate and inspire youth from around the world to transform conflict. Peace is the collective goal.

The vision of Seeds of Peace is simple: Equip young people with the technical skills and relationship- building capacities they need to disengage from politically-charged stereotypes that promote violence in conflict zones. Most Seeds of Peace participants begin the process by attending a summer camp in Maine, in the northeastern US.

After a competitive process, only four to six percent of applicants are selected. All selected individuals must be citizens of a country in conflict. Upon graduating from the camp, attendees acquire alumni “Seed” status and become well-positioned, adult changemakers in their communities and cultural spaces.

“The programme at the Seeds of Peace camp is centred around daily dialogue encounters that are organised by conflict region,” explains Eric Kapenga, a camp counselor at Seeds of Peace. “For 110 minutes each day, they engage each other directly, tackling the most painful and divisive issues defining their conflict, sharing their personal experiences, reflecting on competing narratives, and challenging each other’s prejudices.”

By providing a space for people to meet in a neutral environment, they have an opportunity to generate ideas that can catalyse change. No subject is off-limits. They discuss topics ranging from war and military occupation to suicide bombings, gender, refugees, the Holocaust and immigration.

“The immediate goal of camp dialogue is not agreement or consensus, and there is no expectation that campers adopt or even embrace each other’s viewpoints,” Kapenga explains. “Through dialogue, campers reflect on their own identities and gain insights into the dynamics that perpetuate conflict. In doing so, they lay the groundwork necessary for exploring and addressing these dynamics through local Seeds of Peace programmes once they return home.”

In 2015, Seeds of Peace unveiled a new initiative called “Gather”, which is a five-day conference with the task of investigating new solutions for unified progress. “Seeds of Peace’s programme in Jordan marked the launch of our initiative to spark locally-rooted efforts to change the status quo,” Kapenga says.

“We convened over 200 changemakers from more than 20 countries in Jordan to focus on the roles that business, entrepreneurship, media, technology and gender play in social change,” he adds.

Svoboda elaborates: “Gather was a place where people who had big ideas could find practical ways to put them into action to have an impact on communities typically in conflict.” By bringing people together who would not normally have the chance to meet—and could possibly continue their lives as enemies—a natural shift took place, simply from listening to and learning from one another, she explains.

Of the 100 year-round projects and over 40 peace-building initiatives staffed by Seeds of Peace alumni across the globe, they all share a common goal. They are designed to build empathy and respect in order to shift deeply ingrained attitudes and perceptions in countries in conflict. The key to the organisation’s success is, in part, owing to their approach: They remove young adults from social constructions of their reality, before concrete ideologies take root.

Young people from opposing nations often experience political conflict for the first time through class instruction that is riddled with historical inaccuracies. Ayyaz Ahmed is a Pakistani youth who attended the Seeds of Peace programme as a teenager. His early experiences with Seeds of Peace allowed him to meet people from India for the first time.

Much like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Indo-Pakistani conflicts have created hostile relations between both countries, and citizens of each country are almost expected to harbour contempt for one another.

Now working in the publishing industry, Ahmed credits Seeds of Peace for giving him the confidence to work amicably amongst other cultures as an adult. “The Seeds of Peace experience wasn’t an overnight shift in perspective, but more along the lines of expanding one’s vision and showing possibilities that perhaps weren’t clear earlier,” Ahmed says. “Suddenly, the world was far bigger than I had ever realised.”

Since 2001, Seeds of Peace has been working in South Asia to inspire and cultivate exceptional leaders in Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan.

“Our longest-running programmes in South Asia are the interfaith camps that bring together teenagers of various religious communities to explore the differences and similarities in their beliefs, and to dispel misconceptions and stereotypes,” Kapenga says. “We currently have over 500 alumni from India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Thousands more have participated in, or benefitted from, our local programmes on the ground in the three countries. Our alumni are actively working to transform conflict in and between their countries, leading initiatives in education, media, business, and other sectors that leverage their unique relationships and skills to create economic, social, and political change.”

Developments in social media and the rise of citizen journalism has cultivated a far-reaching digital network that allows cultural demographics all over the world to digest content.

No longer suspended in an insulated bubble, nations caught in the midst of political conflict are thrust into the spotlight, and anybody can access information and interact through these online channels. Individuals who may have never come into contact because of political circumstances can now take part in discussions over the Internet, too.

That being said, face-to-face dialogue remains important. As such, Seeds of Peace has recognised the value of actively mobilising a younger generation who are ready to change deeply ingrained attitudes and perceptions so that hatred and ignorance does not continue to take root.

By developing leaders who can make a positive impact in their communities, the hope is that the next generation will instigate transformation within their country—towards peaceful resolution.

Read Christine Hogg’s article and see Maggie Svoboda’s photos at Asian Geographic ››

Seeds of Peace launches forum on conflict and diplomacy

Apr 12, 2003 / No Comments

Senator George Mitchell to inaugurate series on negotiations

NEW YORK | Seeds of Peace, the nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering leaders of the next generation and advancing reconciliation and coexistence will launch a high-level speaker series on negotiations in New York City. The first forum will take place on Monday, April 19, 2004 and feature Senator George J. Mitchell, former U.S. Senator and the newly elected Chairman of the Board of The Walt Disney Company. Announcement of the senior statesmen confirmed for the second forum will be made on April 19.

Mitchell was selected to be the first speaker in this biannual series based on his outstanding career in negotiations and politics. As a key broker of the Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement and Chairman of the Sharm el-Sheikh Fact-Finding Committee, no one is better positioned to delve into the complexities of the negotiation process.

Said Aaron David Miller, President of Seeds of Peace, “Senator Mitchell has a unique feel for both the theory and practice of negotiations—when they can work and when they cannot. He brings a rare insight and wisdom to a very complicated subject. As a long time supporter of Seeds of Peace, he understands the importance of negotiations to the extraordinary work we do with leaders of the next generation.”

Mitchell will be joined by Israeli and Palestinian alumni from the Seeds of Peace program who will have an opportunity to interact with him during the forum and to engage him on the substance of his presentation.

The Seeds of Peace Forum on Conflict and Diplomacy is an educational series, which offers senior statesmen and negotiators the opportunity to discuss their views and experience on the theory and practice of diplomacy. Two lectures are planned for 2004; the second of which will be held on September 20.

Since 1993, Seeds of Peace has graduated over 2,500 teenagers from four conflict regions from its internationally recognized leadership program. Through its Camp in Maine, its Center for Coexistence in Jerusalem, international youth conferences, regional workshops, educational opportunities, and adult educator program, participants develop empathy, respect, and confidence as well as leadership, communication and negotiation skills—all critical components that will ensure peaceful coexistence for the next generation. For more information, visit www.seedsofpeace.org.

The Seeds of Peace Forum on Conflict and Diplomacy will be held at the University Club (One W. 54th Street at Fifth Avenue) at 6:45 p.m. If you are interested in attending as a member of the press, please contact Rebecca Hankin at 212-573-8270.

Seeds of peace blossom every summer in Maine
India New England

Apr 21, 2006 / No Comments

Annual camp gets Indian, Pakistani kids to see each other’s points of view

BY MEERA RAJAGOPALAN | OTISFIELD, MAINE When 13-year-old Hassan Raza of Lahore packed his bags to be part of the India and Pakistan camp of the Seeds of Peace program in 2002, peace was the furthest thing on his mind. His grandfather had died saving his pregnant grandmother during the partition riots of 1947 and two of his uncles were killed serving the Pakistan Army during wars with India. His whole family was anti-Indian, and Raza was too.

“I was going to show the ‘enemy’ what I was made of,” says Raza, now a junior at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts.

What he learned during the three and a half weeks at the summer camp at Otisfield, Maine changed his life completely, says Raza, who is now ecstatic that one of his Indian friends will be a freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this fall. “I told him I’ll visit him every week,” says Raza.

The Seeds of Peace initiative has changed the lives of around 120 such children from India and Pakistan through its international coexistence program, which aims to bring together teens from areas of conflict together, to make them understand the ‘other’ point of view. The program is funded by the federal government and a few private donors.

Seeds of Peace, which started in 1993, seeks to provide young leaders with skills and understanding required to help them effect change in their homeland. The international program was originally started with Israeli and Palestinian teenagers, and now has programs for countries like the Balkans, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Students from the United States participate in the international program as well.

The India and Pakistan program was started in 2001, and brings students from Mumbai and Lahore together, with plans to expand into other cities in the future. This year, the camp will be held from June 26 to July 18.

“The students that have participated are amazing,” says Leslie Lewin, program director of the organization. “One of the main experiences they have got is that they come here with their own viewpoints or their family’s viewpoints of the situation. For most, it is the first time they are getting to know the other side.”

The camp is like any other summer camp, with activities and games for the entire group. There are subtle differences, with the activities designed to help bonding between children from conflict regions.

“We would play most of the day, different games. We’d have Indians and Pakistanis on one side and Israelis and Palestinians on the other side, for example,” says Rashna Kharas, a student from the 2001 batch, now a freshman at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vt.

The part of the program overtly addressing differences is the nightly co-existence session, where the 12 Indians and 12 Pakistanis were brought together to discuss issues of interest to them, with a moderator present.

Meenakshi Chhabra, an instructor in conflict resolution at Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass. works as a part-time consultant with Seeds of Peace, and has helped design the curriculum for the camps since the program’s inception in 2001. “The first few days are spent in just learning how to have a dialogue,” she says. “One of the main ideas is to ask the kids what they’d like to talk about.”

The Seeds of Peace camp in Otisfield, Maine, brings children from Pakistan and India together every summer. Chhabra says the situation during the first session was especially volatile, coming on the heels of the Kargil conflict of 1999. “Some of them come here with really hardline thinking,” says Chhabra, “and shifts happen with them as well.”

Chhabra says many of the kids come to the camp reading history books, and with a deep knowledge of what happened during the partition, but only from one viewpoint. “They were so struck by the historical events that are taught differently,” says Chhabra. “Of course, that makes them understand that there is really no truth, but there are multiple truths.”

Some of most emotional moments of the camp came when children shared personal stories with each other, trying to argue their point. Raza recalls asking a girl from Mumbai who he must blame for his grandfather’s death during the partition.

“She asked me the same question,” says Raza. “I realized that the truth is that I lost my grandfather, but so did many on the Indian side.”

The Indian and Pakistani children, like the Israeli and Palestinian children, share bunks, and are further brought together by living together in close quarters. Kharas says one of her favorite parts of the day was meal time, not because of its taste, but because of the lack of it.

“We shared a common distaste for American food,” says Kharas. “When you didn’t feel like eating the bland breakfast, the Pakistani kids said, ‘I’m not eating that either.’ It was nice to know that we share so much in common.”

The goal of the program is not to change opinions, says Lewin, but rather to try and understand the other point of view.

“In fact, I still believe that Kashmir should be in India and she (friend from Pakistan) believes that Kashmir should be in Pakistan,” says Kharas. “But [after the camp] I realized that it does not mean we have to hate Pakistanis.”

The children, called ‘seeds,’ also learned about the bias in all forms of media and literature, says Chhabra. “Now, when anything happens in their country, they compare the news online. They don’t just believe, but explore,” says Chhabra.

Kharas agrees. “I definitely take everything the media portrays with a grain of salt, I’m more conscious of that filter,” she says.

If the three and a half weeks were about breaking barriers, they had a more arduous task ahead once they returned home—that of sharing their experience to effect change in their spheres of influence. Raza recalls his return to Pakistan, a changed person.

“When I went back, I was considered an outcaste. My friends started calling me ‘Hindu-lover’,” says Raza. “But it only took some time for them to realize what I was saying, and they now stand by me.”

Kharas says she was written off as an idealist when she spoke about there being two sides to the conflict. “It was much harder to convince the older generation than our peers,” she says.

One of the other main components of the program is the home state program, where seeds from India visit Pakistan and vice versa. Raza cherished the time he spent with his friends when they visited him in Pakistan. He remembers an incident at the marketplace when he and his Indian friends were quibbling over the price of something, when an older man asked them not to fight and added in Urdu, “Are they Indians for you to fight?”

“He was shocked when I told him that they were Indian,” says Raza.

Some seeds, like Kharas, return to the camp as peer supporters, where they have their own international camp experience, and also help the participants of the coexistence program. Others are encouraged to explore the issue further. Raza, for example, is currently working on a documentary film that seeks to portray the partition from the Indian and Pakistani perspective.

Most seeds remain in touch, and contribute regularly to the quarterly newsletter “The Olive Branch,” meant specifically for seeds to tell their stories after their camps. Now, not just the seeds are in touch, but their parents are as well.

Raza now proudly tells the story of how his mother regularly sends gifts to her friends in Mumbai—friends who are mothers of seeds. “It took her almost a year to understand what I was saying, but once my friends visited me from India, she bonded with them more easily,” says Raza.

New Season for Peace
Portland Press Herald

Jun 26, 2003 / No Comments

BY DEIRDRE ERIN MURPHY | OTISFIELD More than 170 teenagers from the Middle East, the United States and elsewhere linked arms and sang a song of peace Wednesday for the opening day at Seeds of Peace camp.

Seeds of Peace, an organization that brings together teenagers from regions in conflict, kicked off its 11th season with a flag-raising ceremony. The tradition represents the teenagers’ pledge to embrace other cultures and ethnicities during their three weeks at Pleasant Lake.

The campers’ stay comes against a backdrop of renewed violence in the Middle East despite a Wednesday agreement among Palestinian militant groups to a three-month cease-fire of attacks on Israelis.

Seeds, as the campers are called, are 14- to 16-year-old boys and girls from Afghanistan, Palestine, Israel, Pakistan, India, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Yemen and the United States. Three different sessions this summer will allow campers to express themselves through structured discussions with fellow campers. During each three-week stay, Seeds from different nations share cabins and play on the same sports teams. They eat and live with people who, at home, are called the enemy.

“It manages to take people who normally wouldn’t have contact and have them sleep in the same bunk together,” said Oren Karniol-Tambour, a second-year camper from Israel.

Campers often apply what they learn to their lives back home. Karniol-Tambour said when he returned to Netanya, Israel, he brought his father, who found it difficult to agree with his new views on peace, to have lunch with a Palestinian friend he made at camp.

“It was very hard for (my father) to hear me say, ‘Now wait a minute, maybe you’re wrong,’ ” he said.

Although much of their time at camp is structured, sometimes the unstructured events leave the most lasting impressions. Karniol-Tambour said last year he learned just as much spending time with his friends as he did at the emotionally charged training sessions. His best friends last year were a Palestinian and an American.

“The first thing we did was talk about girls and music,” he said. “We’re all the same.” Only 15, Karniol-Tambour already knows he wants the conflict between Israel and Palestine to end. He says using violence isn’t the right path to peace.

“What you’re doing, in fact, is counteractive,” he said. “Blood only causes more blood.”

Sometimes it is this violence at home that has a disheartening impact on the camp, Seeds of Peace president Aaron David Miller said.

“The most different thing (about this year’s camp sessions) will be how they react to events going on at home,” Miller said. This year the campers and staff will have to learn “how to balance what is happening over there with the reality of what we are trying to do here.”

The camp is only one part of the organization’s year-long programming throughout the Middle East and in Portland. Other efforts include producing a newspaper, attending seminars and conducting online discussions to promote peace.

“Camp is the departure point and it has to be seen that way. Camp provides the transformation,” Miller said. “We also give them the freedom to speak for themselves.”

For campers, this freedom is precious. “It’s all safe. There’s no violence,” said Sami Habash, a Palestinian attending camp for a second year. “I always want to talk about my point of view with Israelis and now I can,” he said. “The No. 1 thing that made me get into this summer camp is it has the word peace in it.”

Americans at the camp also have the opportunity to learn what their role could be in a worldwide peace process.

“I’m interested in making a peaceful world,” said Abby Becker of Morgantown, W.Va. “I think I’m going to take what I learn from other cultures and ethnicities and teach people in my community that we’re not that different.”

The ambitions of these teenagers on the first day of camp are high, but for right now, they are just eager to go play.

“It’s not only work,” Karniol-Tambour said. “It takes a lot of emotional strength and it drains you, but it’s a lot of fun.”

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.

50 Israelis, Palestinians end summer program with communications seminar

Aug 5, 2010 / No Comments

JERUSALEM | The Seeds of Peace 2010 Regional Summer Program has ended on a very high note: over three days, 50 Israeli and Palestinian Seeds gathered for one of the most eye-opening, intensive, and meaningful seminars in recent history.

After spending the summer working on their creative media projects (film, photography, creative writing, journalism, and more), The Art of Communication Seminar on August 3-5 was the Seeds’ first opportunity to present their work to each other and enter into an in-depth dialogue about each other’s work.

Seeds used their projects to share what life is like in their communities, addressing issues and stories that are too seldom seen in the news or heard by the other side. Projects ranged from original documentary films on the struggles inside Hebron’s old city to spoken word poetry about discrimination against women and violence within our communities, and photography that showed homophobia, discriminatory hiring policies, and many other themes. The projects were impressive and moving, and many reflected a tremendous amount of effort.

Throughout the seminar, the Seeds demonstrated an unmatched level of maturity and respect in watching and listening to the work of their peers. Through facilitated dialogue, the Seeds spent many hours reflecting on each other’s work and addressing the larger issues of the conflict.

In addition, we led a number of workshops specifically geared towards self-expression and listening skills, which helped the Seeds better understand how to effectively communicate their messages and become better leaders with strong voices for their communities.

We are especially proud and continually amazed by our Seeds’ ability to rise to the occasion and overcome so many obstacles to make this program a success. On our long trip north to the village of Peki’in for the seminar, we were repeatedly reminded of the realities of living in a conflict zone. After a very long bus ride for Israelis and Palestinians alike, difficulties in crossing a checkpoint left some members of the Palestinian delegation especially frustrated.

Then, as we neared the youth center in Peki’in, we heard news of a clash along the Israel-Lebanon border. Since we were somewhat close to the border ourselves, the news was of immediate concern. Once the staff confirmed that the situation had stabilized, we began the Seminar.

Despite these problems, Seeds on both sides remained committed to the importance of dialogue, and everyone was eager to share and listen.

This seminar was the first step of what we hope will be a much longer process where Seeds can bring their projects and their voices to their communities, to the other side, and to the world. We will be showing their works in a special new “for Seeds, by Seeds” online newsletter affectionately known as the Olive Twig. Keep your eyes open for the first issue, which will be released in the next few weeks!

We also hope to hold more formal exhibitions of their work at events in various places throughout the fall. Spending the summer here working with the seeds has been an incredible experience for all of us on the Summer 2010 Regional Counselor Team. We have learned so much from our time here. After listening to feedback from the seeds and the regional staff and countless hours of discussion, planning, and re-planning, we feel good about having helped start a new and exciting chapter for Seeds of Peace regional programming. The work was hard and the hours were long, but, as always with Seeds of Peace, the reward is working with these incredible young leaders.

We would like especially to thank all the wonderful members of the permanent regional staff here: Sawsan, Eyal, Claire, Layan, Eti, Eric, Sara, Ghassan, Rasha and Lipaz, plus Bashar, Iddo, Khero, Eldad, and of course, Eva and Leslie back in the States. Without their wise advice, logistical (and moral!) support, and tireless enthusiasm, none of this would have been possible. We are excited for what the school year will bring and are already looking forward to next year’s program!

Enemies become friends through Seeds of Peace
Aufbau (New York)

Jul 23, 1999 / No Comments

A Summer Camp Unites Kids from the Middle East

Tall pine trees, a fresh water lake, hundreds of kids in green T-shirts playing soccer, canoeing and singing together: It looks just like another summer camp, but the Seeds of Peace International Camp in Maine is more than that. Some people call it the “Miracle in the Maine Woods” because here 14- to 17-year-old teenagers from Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Qatar, Turkish and Greek Cyprus live together in peace—a thing their countries’ leaders just achieve on paper. As founder John Wallach points out, “it’s a conflict resolution program.”

“Inna is my best friend. She is more my friend than the other Palestinian girls,” says 15-year-old Rahman from Palestine and gives her blonde Israeli friend Inna a big hug.

“Two troublemakers found each other,” the bunk counselors comment, laughing. Both girls live in bunk nine with Amani from Palestine, Mais from Jordan, Marilena from Greek Cyprus, Fatos, a Turkish Cypriot, and the two counselors Suzanne from Canada and Amanda from Maine. They all got along from the first day of camp two weeks ago. With one week left they already started thinking how they could keep in touch with each other after they get back home. “We want to stay friends forever,” the girls all agree.

You can feel the spirit when the kids sing the Seeds of Peace song at line-up in front of the Great Hall. One Friday night they had a big party where everybody danced. “Those kids have rhythm and soul,” counselor Amanda laughs.

There is a unique atmosphere in the summer camp which was founded by journalist John Wallach in 1993. The former employee of the Hearst Corporation says: “Nothing was done to make real peace in the real world. It’s one thing for leaders to sign peace agreements, but an organization was missing that makes peace in the peoples’ hearts.” Since then more than 1,000 Israeli and Arab teenagers have stayed at the camp. This summers’ program consists of three consecutive sessions of three weeks with some 160 teenagers in each session. The cost for every participant is around $3,000; however, the participant’s family is only obligated to pay up to half the actual cost.

Seeds of Peace is an internationally acclaimed non-profit organization—mostly funded by corporate, foundation, and individual donors—receiving worldwide press coverage and international attention and support. US President Bill Clinton visited the camp, as well as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Former Israeli presidents Benjamin Netanyahu and Shimon Peres, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Queen Noor of Jordan as well as Sa’ab Erekat, Chief Palestinian negotiator, support the concept. “However,” stresses Vice President Bobbie Gottschalk who is a psychiatric social worker with thirty years experience, “the governments just support us morally, not financially. We are an independent organization and we want to stay independent.”

Tamer from Egypt, now 19 years old, was one of the 46 participants from Israel, Palestine and Egypt in the first Seeds of Peace summer camp has since then been involved in the program. After just being a camper, then a peer supporter, junior counselor and youth leader, he is now a staff member.

To him, his first session was a great adventure, says Tamer. “When I first got here it was quite a new experience. The only thing I knew was that I was going to meet Israelis for the first time. We were brought up to learn that they are our enemies.”

Hence, he didn’t expect to become friends with the Israeli kids. “But once we starting sharing bunks and toilets,” he laughs, “I learned that I can get along with an Israeli teenager like he was a friend of mine back home in Egypt.” He still keeps in contact with the friends he met via email, telephone, the written word and even visits.

The Seeds of Peace program has the blessing of each of the ten governments who send a delegation. Through its Ministry of Education or Foreign Ministry, each nation conducts the selection process. Tamer, like all the other kids, had to go through a long and difficult procedure including several interviews and an essay on ‘Peace in the Middle East’ to come to the program. The aim is to find teenagers who have leadership skills and who are fluent in English because in the camp, English becomes the language they communicate in. Very seldom you hear a word in another tongue. Bobbie Gottschalk, a petite lady with short dark hair who was on Wallach’s side from the beginning, explains that this common language helps to build a community.

But at camp there are also moments when tensions arise. Counselor Suzanne tries to explain: “This camp has worked like a progression. There is the first stage where everyone comes and no one really knows each other. So, everyone is having a good time and meeting new people. But you don’t really know them.”

After the kids get to know each other on a personal level without being forced to think about the others as Israelis or Palestinians, the heart of the program—the daily coexistence sessions—starts.

The success of the program depends on these workshops. Here the teenagers are placed in small groups of approximately twelve which are lead by professional facilitators. Says Bobbie Gottschalk, “Here they begin to trust their own experiences and comprehend with an insightful new perspective the old voices of hostility.”

Friday night all the kids from the Israeli delegation put together a Shabbat service dressed up wearing white shirts. But a girl of the delegation, an Arab-Israeli, didn’t want to be a part of the ceremony because it was a Jewish service. So she asked to sit with the other children. The rest of the Israeli delegation accepted that yet they became quite upset when they saw her laughing during the ceremony. In one of the co-existence sessions the Arab-Israeli girls brought up the subject, initiating an intense discussion, during which one Israeli boy began shouting overwhelmed with anger.

Fortunately, the two facilitators Liz and Olga were around to steer the conversation in the right direction. “We were just so hurt because we love you and we care about you. And we know that it is very difficult for you and that you try really hard,” said another Jewish girl from Israel to the Arab-Israeli girl. When the latter asked shyly at the end of the session, “So, are we still friends?” and the Israeli boy answered hesitantly, “Yes,” everybody in the circle witnessed a touching moment.

In another co-existence workshop in a tent on a tennis court Suzan and Reuven, a Palestinian and Israeli facilitation team, uses photographs to work with the teenagers. The teenagers in this session have reached an important point in their progression. The word they mention the most in the discussion is ‘understanding.’ One girl puts the meaning of the word very nicely: “It means putting yourself in the other person’s shoes.” Looking at the two photographs, ‘understanding’ becomes quite difficult because in one picture there is an Israeli soldier aiming his gun at a group of Palestinian demonstrators, in the other one there is a Palestinian throwing a rock. The Palestinian kids have a particularly difficult time attempting to understand the Israeli soldier. When the bell rings they haven’t solved the problem yet, but they have made significant progress.

In bunk nine, counselor Suzanne talks to her kids about the co-existence sessions. Rahman recalls, “When we go to the coexistence sessions we look like enemies. Everyone attacks each other. We fight, shout and become angry. I don’t like that. I cant remember that we are friends in those sessions. But when we start singing the Seeds of Peace song, we’re friends again.” Suzanne explains, “You are probably at the third stage. In the second stage, once co-existence starts, people begin to realize, ‘this person thinks a lot different than I, maybe I don’t like them as much as I thought,’ but then in the next stage people begin to realize, ‘Hey, I have to open up my mind and realize that not everyone thinks the same way I do.’ And that’s when people start to like each other again.” Inna, Rahman’s friend, brings it to a point: “Your friend is not the government of his or her country; he or she is a person.” In the woods of Maine there is peace. Yet how will they cope with life at home?

As they grow up, Arabs and Israelis learn that the other side is the enemy. They’re still being taught from textbooks that were made when the countries were at war with one another. “One kid believed that the Holocaust was when the rich Jews killed the poor Jews,” says Wallach. This is because many Arabs only see the state of Israel as a threat and do not realize how much the Jews actually suffered. Therefore, John Wallach finds it very important to take the kids to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., at the end of the program.

When they go home to their respective countries, they arrive with new, liberal ideas which most of their friends have never heard of. Inna doubts that the program will really help the peace process in the Middle East. She says, “We don’t have much of a voice in our countries, we’re too young, we don’t get to vote. We can weep, cry, it wont get through to them.”

But Seeds of Peace looks further ahead. The camp brochure informs: “By teaching teenagers to develop trust and empathy for one another, Seeds of Peace is changing the landscape of conflict. It is equipping the next generation with the tools to end violence and become leaders of tomorrow.”

Tamer is already going this way. “When I went back to Egypt in 1993,” he recalls, “I didn’t find a lot of agreement from a lot of my friends. Even though Israel and Egypt have a peace agreement since 1979, we didn’t have real peace; it was just peace on paper. Some of my friends liked what I told them and came to Seeds of Peace the following year, but some of them didn’t agree and some even stopped talking to me at all.” Tamer’s example shows that Seeds of Peace doesn’t just end after the summer camp.

It also shows the difficulties the teenagers face when they go back to their home country. “We’re putting the children at risk because Seeds of Peace causes dissonance with their immediate environment if they choose to think differently,” facilitator Reuven says. One former participant, Moran from Israel, writes in an email about a conversation she had with her friends back home: “I defended the Arab side, thinking that I was in for a nice long political discussion. But what did happen was my best friend got up and started shouting at me. He said that ever since I got back from camp I’ve been acting differently, that I forgot where I came from and where I returned.”

Luckily, those kids still get the support from Seeds of Peace after they return home. SeedsNet, the online website and chat room, enables the participants to stay in touch despite borders and checkpoints.

In October a Seeds of Peace center, the headquarters of the Jerusalem outreach project, will open its doors. Here the alumni will be able to participate in workshops and educational outreach programs in order to continue their commitment to peacemaking. The bi-monthly newspaper The Olive Branch written and edited by Arab and Israeli graduates already reaches thousands of teenagers beyond the alumni network.

New initiatives include graduates’ conflict-resolution training such as the Middle East Youth Summit. Slowly but surely, Seeds of Peace and the children involved are making a difference.

Challenging biases and discovering truths: Indian programs engage 68 young leaders

Mar 6, 2022 / No Comments

Once a Seed makes up their mind, there are few things that can slow them down—not even Mumbai traffic.

When India’s COVID-19 restrictions finally lifted in November just enough to allow small in-person gatherings, youth did whatever it took to come together during a busy six weeks of programming for Seeds of Peace India.

In total, 68 students attended one or more of the various in-person and online programs offered for Indian youth in the final weeks of 2021. For some, this meant sitting hours in traffic each day, while also adhering to rigorous health protocols and balancing school and family obligations.

“The level of commitment made this group special,” said Sagar Gangurde, director India programs. “Despite having to travel for hours, adjusting to a horde of new people after two years in pandemic-induced isolation, and the physically demanding nature of the program, they all turned up every day and gave their best.”

Youth and adults were part of a burst of programs that wrapped up 2021 for Seeds of Peace-India. This included the first Indian Core Leadership Program, which launched in November with a series of multi-day workshops designed to give participants essential skills for leading change, including fundamentals of dialogue, humanistic leadership, and critical thinking around media messaging.

For youth like Mustafa, 14, the experience underscored the need to think critically about what they see and hear in media and from others around him.

“I learned how to embrace and understand the differences between people; about the privileges and biases we carry; and that it’s not about giving the correct answer, but about asking the correct question,” he said.

For adults, December brought the first Samvaad National Interfaith Summit, a daylong conference that brought together more than 70 educators, students, artists, religious and business leaders, and peer peace-building organizations to explore the importance of interfaith work and dialogue. The December 11 event also served as the culmination of the Samvaad Project, a nine-month program supported by the U.S. Consulate in Mumbai that offered interfaith dialogue facilitation training to university educators.

Though the program participants met the requirements to graduate many months ago, some have continued to hold community dialogue sessions for their students long beyond the course’s requirements—spreading the reach of Seeds of Peace along with the bridge-building capabilities of interfaith dialogue.

“’Interfaith’ can be a scary word for some people, and my hope is that these programs creates more awareness that interfiath isn’t just about religion, but what you value,“ Sagar said. “Samvaad and the summit showed the need for more openess toward exploring and understanding the benefits of diversity, and how these tools can be used in our lives.“

Later in December, the series of youth programs culminated with the Interfaith Harmony Camp, a signature program for Seeds of Peace India for nearly a decade. Over the course of five days, 29 students of various religions came together to explore different faiths through dialogue in a Camp-inspired environment.

They included youth like Anousha, 14, who said the experience showed the truth behind many of the misconceptions she had previously held around religions, and changed the way she engages in conflict.

“It made me realize that a lot of the time when I am in conflict with someone else, I am often at least partially at fault, if not for instigating the conflict, then for the way I choose to respond,” she said. “This prompted me to think more before I speak to others, as well as consider their viewpoints before making judgements about them.”

A new generation of Israelis are uniting to demand change

Aug 8, 2020 / No Comments

A new generation of Israelis is now protesting against authoritarian rule. Do they stand a chance?

Israel had never been a perfect democracy. To be honest, it was never even a good one.

Despite everything, there used to be some minimal leadership accountability, some written and unwritten rules of public service, and some class. In the Netanyahu years, however, the rules seemed to change. Israel is no longer a republic; Israel is Netanyahu, and Netanyahu is Israel. As those who oppose him proclaim, he has used every single questionable method, along with mass public gaslighting and psychological manipulations, to deeply engrave this perception and gain increasing power over the years.

With time, Netanyahu was able to eliminate almost every threat to his rule, crushing opponents; silencing critics, and increasingly deepening his control of the media, the Knesset, law enforcement and civil agencies. From schoolteachers, to political leaders, from journalists to judges, those who oppose him are threatened, attacked, marked as traitors or self-hating anti-Semites, and removed from positions of influence. It sometime seems like the entire country is working for Bibi Netanyahu and his followers, known as “Bibists.”

Taking “divide and conquer” one step further, Netanyahu’s method works around the ancient Hebrew word “Shissuy” (שיסוי): Divide, conquer, and convince all parties involved to hate and attack each other.

“But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew” (Exodus 1:12)

The COVID-19 crisis, unprecedented unemployment and poverty rates, years of political turmoil and three general elections, along with the Netanyahu trials coming soon, have created a unique opportunity for those who seek change.

An entire generation, my generation, that grew up almost entirely under Netanyahu’s regime, is waking up. There seems to be a sudden realization that the country we thought we had does not exist. It’s a generation that grew up with no hope and no future and has absolutely zero faith in the path this country is headed.

Since the coronavirus crisis started, several protest movements began gaining power and public sympathies, separately, at first. The demonstrations in Tel-Aviv against the proposed West Bank annexation plan grew more significant than expected: A new movement of unemployed and collapsing business owners began growing, and demonstrations against Netanyahu, personally, focusing on his abusive political behavior, his violent propaganda, and incitement, and his corruption allegations, spread wider and wider across the country.

And after an anti-corruption protester who was quite old, peaceful and polite, a war veteran, and a Holocaust researcher was attacked and arrested by police officers in Jerusalem six weeks ago, the protests began to focus on Jerusalem—more precisely, outside of Netanyahu’s residence, on Balfour Street.

Panicking from the rising criticism and the threat to his governance, Netanyahu made a possibly fatal mistake: using the police, the military, and gangs of violent, organized Jewish supremacist “Bibists,” he began terrorizing protesters in the streets. Methods that were usually used against Palestinians, anti-occupation activists, anti-Zionist ultra-orthodox Jews in Jerusalem, and against Black Ethiopian Jews, are now being used against all protesters. The white, secular Jewish sector that traditionally ignored the violence directed towards marginalized communities cannot ignore it any more. Netanyahu meant to scare the new, naïve protesters away, but instead, united them.

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.” (Isaiah 11:6)

After being divided for too many years and now facing a common oppressor, all protests seem to be merging: “Crime Minister” protesters, anti-Occupation activists, together with all groups of political opposition to the government, Palestinian Citizens of Israel political movements, LGBTQ organizations, feminist organizations, climate change activists, peace organizations—and most importantly—an unprecedented amount of people who are not directly affiliated with any specific political organization, who had never protested before, and feel like they have got nothing to lose.

This is the “Siege on Balfour,” a non-violent revolution of love, art, music, solidarity, and new hope. No longer a narrow protest for or against something too specific. This is a wake-up call, and this could be the beginning of intersectional resistance—a rise against oppression of all kinds. It’s a movement with no particular leaders and without any organized set of demands. No speeches are being held, and no stage elevates one person above others. People are standing together with a beautiful mix of chants: “Bread, Freedom, Dignity,” “Justice for Eyad,” “End the Occupation,” “It will not be over until he quits.”

As this movement grows bigger and becomes much more intersectional than we have ever seen before, it seems like more and more Seeds and their families are joining. As a Seed who grew up on the values of solidarity, partnership, and taking courageous steps to bring change, those demonstrations are setting a new example of the Camp motto, “the way life could be.” I have never seen such a movement before in my life, bringing so many people together despite the differences, uniting for such a fundamental change, and standing in solidarity with one another.

With combined powers, does this generation have a chance to change things? Or is it, perhaps, one last pathetic attempt to save our souls? There are many questions as to how Netanyahu will respond to these calls for change and the current moment—and whether the unity of this moment is durable enough to remake and rebuild a country.

Only time will tell, but for the first time in a decade: Netanyahu looks nervous.

What can you, non-Israelis, do to support? Spread the word. Show support to your regime-opposing friends. Balfour protests are now happening four times a week: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Watch the online broadcasts and share the images of police violence. Stand with your Israeli and Palestinian friends and help them demand this fundamental change for all. Educate yourself and those around you. And pray for us, please.

And then, hopefully, after the dust settles, help us rebuild, rise from the ashes, and create a safe space for all. Change takes all of us.

Jonathan is a 2011 Israeli Seed.

Photo credits (from top): Sharon Avraham and Olivier Fitoussi (Flash90)