Journalists, including John Wallach, engage with Israeli and Palestinian Seeds about how the media covers the Middle East peace process.
Among the topics they addressed were the amount of censorship imposed on various media, the media role in humanizing those in opposite camps, and differences between Palestinian and Israeli press coverage of events.
BY JONATHAN SLONIM | The closest most summer campers ever come to geopolitics is “color war,” but for campers at Seeds of Peace in Otisfield, Maine, war is not a game that lasts a few short weeks. It is part of their daily lives. These campers are Palestinian, Egyptian, Jordanian and Israeli teenagers handpicked to attend a summer camp with an ambitious agenda—achieving world peace. At the least, these teens are expected to leave camp with newfound tolerance and respect for one another’s views.
Seeds of Peace was founded five years ago by John Wallach, a journalist who got tired of covering the news and decided instead to try and change it. “The catalyst for Seeds of Peace was the World Trade Center bombing in February 1993. It rang a bell. I realized the greatest aim of a terrorist is to instill fear. So a light went off in my head, and I said we’ve got to create something that instills hope and shows that peace is possible.”
Seeds of Peace is a program where youngsters from all sides of the Middle East conflict are brought together to discuss their differences and learn that it is possible to live together in peace. On a typical camp day campers from different delegations, as each country’s group is called, swim and play sports. At night, there are no bonfires or marshmallow roasts. The teens are broken up into groups to discuss such topics as the Israeli army’s role in the West Bank and Gaza, what happened in Nazi Germany, Jerusalem’s future and the establishment of a Palestinian state. “They break up the delegations, trying to create tension, because that is when the truth comes out,” explains counselor Amil Sni.
Each group is led by a facilitator, like Christopher Lybeltis, skilled in role-playing and other techniques used to make a difficult situation a little less tense. “We use drama. We create situations that occur in America, like the issue of race, which creates an analagous metaphor to their situation in the Middle East.” The children are then asked such questions as, “Does this remind you of anything?”
“The children would sometimes get very aggressive with each other,” recalls Mr. Lybeltis. But in at least one situation, it became clear that the camp’s message was getting through. “One time this happened, the children themselves got up at the end of the session and said, ‘Let’s hold hands.’ They were all singing the Seeds of Peace anthem at the top of their lungs.” Later, Mr. Lybeltis watched as the children left the building holding hands.
It is not easy to undo years of mistrust, misinformation and hatred. Ray’d Khalil Abu-Ayyash, an 18-year-old Jordanian, once compared the plight of the Palestinians to victims of the Holocaust. “I was trying to be neutral,” he said, unaware that his remarks would offend the Jewish campers. “Because of all the things in history, there are so many blocks already in your path,” he remarked. Laith Arafeh, a Palestinian teenager who graduated in the first group to attend the camp, describes the obstacles he had to overcome. When he first got there he had never met an Israeli teenager like himself. “I always saw them as settlers, as soldiers, as occupiers.”
When the campers return home, there are obstacles they did not anticipate. Ray’d was considered a traitor by some of his friends. “If you understand the other side, or listen to them, you are being brainwashed,” he said. Anat Regev, a 16-year-old Israeli girl and graduate of the program, was also shunned by some of her friends. They say that you’re friends with these people who have no problem killing.”
While they have problems with some of the friends they left behind, most of the kids remain close to the new friends they made at camp. Despite her wariness, Ms. Regev went to Jordan to visit her new friends. “It was nice being there,” she said. “It felt like they wanted me to be there.”
Word of the camp is spreading. Having begun with 55 children, it received 4,000 applications this year for 200 spaces. Each applicant writes an essay titled “Why I Want to Make Peace With the Enemy,” and is interviewed in person. Most of the campers are Arabs and Israelis, but Mr. Wallach is planning a Serbia-Bosnia program and an American inner-city program. The Greek and Turkish governments have approached Mr. Wallach about sending a delegation of children from the divided island of Cyprus. Mr. Wallach sees the camp “rapidly becoming a kind of kids UN.”
While Mr. Wallach believes that the true hope for peace rests with the next generation, he has not given up hope for the present. “I wish we could get Netanyahu and Arafat up to Seeds of Peace for a week, because you have to humanize this thing, you have to understand there is a human being at the other end and that he’s got problems very similar to your own.”
Ray’d agrees. Just like in the first tense days of the camp, he recalled, “Somebody just needs to break the ice.”
BY CARLYLE MURPHY | OTISFIELD, MAINE After two suicide bombers blew up a Jerusalem market last month, killing 16 people, the epicenter of Middle East strife plunged anew into an inferno of mutilated bodies, demolished homes, closed borders, curses and recriminations. But here in the woods of southern Maine, something quite different happened after news of the bombing reached a camp of Arab and Israeli teenagers.
The attack drew tears, apologies, hugs and condolences. It moved a 14-year-old Egyptian to pen a poem, “Hurricane and the Dream.” It led a 15-year-old Israeli to compose a song called “Pain.” And Dan Moskona, an Israeli of “14 and a half” years, saw something he’d never even imagined.
“I saw a couple of Palestinians just sit, hug and cry about the bomb attack,” he said last week. “I couldn’t believe it. Palestinians crying about a bomb attack in Jerusalem?”
Afterward, when Arab friends came and said they were sorry, “I said, ‘Why do you say you’re sorry? You’re not the ones who did it.’ ”
If the future can arrive at one place on Earth and later migrate to another part of the world, this pine-scented camp on the shore of Pleasant Lake may hold hope for the tormented Holy Land. It is the site of “Seeds of Peace,” a program that brings together Arab and Israeli teenagers for a month of fun and serious discussions.
This summer, 165 teenagers from six nations—Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco and Qatar—and Palestine, which is struggling to become one, gathered to talk about how they can live together despite their differences. Next Wednesday, they will travel to Washington, where they hope to visit the White House.
Founded by former Hearst foreign editor John Wallach, the camp is in its fifth year. Participants are nominated by their schools after writing an essay on making peace, with finalists chosen by their respective governments.
Since the campers must have a working knowledge of English, most come from middle-class backgrounds and they include a sprinkling of kids well—connected to top politicians.
Aside from swimming and other summer camp activities, the heart of “Seeds of Peace” is a daily, 90-minute discussion known in camp as “coexistence.” Led by professionals trained in group therapy and conflict resolution, the sessions explore such topics as the dynamics of identity, the art of listening, the meaning of such words as “stereotype” and “prejudice” and, sometimes, the redemptive powers of tolerance and compassion.
But many of the sessions center on fear. Israeli teenagers tell of being afraid that someone, anyone, standing next to them might be a suicide bomber. They talk a lot about the Holocaust, which many of their co-campers know little about because it is not taught in most Arab schools.
Palestinians describe being under curfew and not attending school for weeks, watching gun-toting Israeli soldiers in their streets, enduring humiliating roadblocks, seeing their homes bulldozed and, much worse, losing an uncle, brother or father to an Israeli bullet.
Arguments follow—about whether Israelis use rubber or metal bullets; about whether Israelis are “giving” or “returning” land to the Palestinians. The sessions, the teenagers say, are tense, heated and frequently tearful.
“It’s really hard,” said Israeli Diana Naor, 13, who lives in Holon, outside Tel Aviv. “Everyone is shouting and crying.”
“The whole point of it is to let people recognize that the differences are wide, that they are deep, but that it’s up to them to find a way to resolve it,” said Wallach. These children “are the future, and they can’t be mired in the same cycle of violence that their parents and grandparents are mired in.”
Wallach has seen “much more hatred that I ever anticipated in a 13-year-old, a 14-year-old, because their society has already poisoned them … What we’re doing is a detoxification program. We’re trying to get the poison and hatred out of them. In some cases we succeed and in some cases we don’t.”
Seeds of Peace takes no government money, and Wallach said he raises $750,000 each year from individuals and corporations to run it.
Sara Jabari, a 15-year-old Palestinian, said her father, a gas station owner in Hebron, was warned by Hamas, the extremist Palestinian group responsible for the suicide bombings, not to send her to the peace camp. He ignored the warning “because he believes in peace,” Jabari said. But just in case, on the day of her departure, her family left for the airport three hours earlier than planned.
Jabari said she was wary of the Israeli campers at first. “I thought all the Israelis were like the [Israeli] settlers, and the settlers were always killing our people.”
Then she met Dana Naor. “She is my friend. She is so nice and I know [among] the Israelis there is good and there is bad from them. And from the Palestinians, there is good and there is bad too. I really had a new idea of the Israelis from Dana.”
Naor arrived with different apprehensions about Palestinians. “I knew the most extremist would not come to this kind of camp, but I was kind of worried that they won’t be nice or they won’t speak English or that they won’t want to be our friends,” she said. “But all of them are really, really nice.”
It was definitely not love at first sight between Adham Rishmawi, son of a Palestinian medical supplier in Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem, and Edi Shpitz, son of an Israeli airplane engineer in Holon. The two 15-year-olds first spotted each other in the Frankfurt airport en route to Maine.
“When I saw Adham … he had a Palestinian hat and a Palestinian flag [on his chest]. And he looked at me in a strange way, and I looked at him in a strange way and didn’t say anything,” Shpitz said. “But then when we found out we were in the same bunk it was like, ‘Oh, no!’ and we started talking and after the first couple of coexistence [sessions] we understood that each of us has his problems and I understand Adham and his people because he has a right to get a country. But he has to understand us: We waited 2,000 years for that moment.”
Rishmawi, who said he has never had a personal relationship with an Israeli his own age, discovered when he talked to Shpitz that “he is not against Palestinians. It was a great feeling.”
At home, the boys live less than a two-hour drive apart. “But it’s actually a very big distance” from Holon to the “Palestinian Authority,” Shpitz said.
Rishmawi leaned over and whispered in Shpitz’s ear. “He’s telling me he lives in Palestine, not the Palestinian Authority,” explained Shpitz, who laughed and corrected himself.
The day of the July 30 bombing, “we had just finished breakfast and they brought us all into the big hall,” said Saad Shakshir, 14, a Jordanian. “John announced it and there was a lot of sadness and crying. It wasn’t just Israelis who were crying. A lot of Arabs and Palestinians were also crying.”
“We told them we don’t agree to put bombs,” said 15-year-old Mohammed Sager, one of the 10 Palestinians from Gaza at the camp.
The long-term goal of Seeds of Peace is to nurture leadership. So each year about 30 campers are invited back as program leaders, junior counselors and eventually counselors. Some have returned three consecutive years. Coexistence sessions among these older teens are sometimes more acrimonious, and more mature, group leaders said.
“They’re able to talk fairly intimately and deeply” about trust, said Achim Nowak, who runs a coexistence program at the camp with Roya Fahmy-Swartz, a Tokoma Park resident.
Before the recent bombing, the teenagers “were very comfortable with the intellectual arguments and discussions and ‘my history’ and ‘your history,’” said Fahmy-Swartz. But that day “pushed them to anther level of being able to see each other as people rather than as history [or] politics. They started talking about feelings rather than ‘My Torah says,’ ‘My Koran says’ … They’re supreme debaters.”
By this summer’s end, the camp’s alumni will number about 800. Just a drop in the bucket, a cynic might note.
“You have to start somewhere, right?” Wallach said. “I mean, you know, one of these kids could become a president or a prime minister.”
Seeds of Peace is a nonprofit, U.S.-based international organization that promotes understanding and coexistence among teenagers from regions of conflict.
Participants are encouraged to learn about each others’ cultures and religions in a neutral surrounding, in hopes they can overcome obstacles they have grown up with.
Although Seeds of Peace hosts programs throughout the year, the main focus is a summer camp set in the woods of Maine, where the teenagers are encouraged to participate in various activities geared towards promoting coexistence. The program sponsors a Middle East delegation which includes Jewish and Arab teenagers from Israel and the Palestinian territories. There are also programs that sponsor young people from India, Pakistan, Greece, Turkey, the Balkans, and other regions of conflict.
The summer program concludes with a trip to Washington, D.C., where participants meet with members of the U.S. government as well as their own ambassadors to the United States.
Two Seeds of Peace participants joined CNN to discuss their upcoming visit with Secretary of State Colin Powell, and talk about their experiences in the program. Both Dodi Shulman, from Israel and Jamal Obu Zant, from the West Bank, are 16 years old.
CNN: What will you ask Secretary of State Colin Powell?
Shulman: I’ll ask him what he thinks about the situation and what they are going to do about it. Stuff like that. It’s very interesting for us.
CNN: What is interesting about it?
Shulman: I will ask him things like why did (the violence) happen? And what can the U.S. do to prevent the escalation?
CNN: What about you, Jamal?
Obu Zant: I would like to ask him about the issues of Israel using artillery and ammunition that are internationally illegal, for example nerve gas and radioactive ammunition bullets, etc. … being used against innocent people in Palestine. At the same time I would like to ask him about the veto that America had in the U.N. conference about sending the international inspection inquiry to the region to inspect how the violence started. I would like to know why the U.S. government did that and why Mr. Powell did that.
CNN: These are heavy topics for kids your age to have. Did the two of you meet before you got to Washington or did you know each other before you came here?
Shulman: We met in the previous session, Seeds of Peace 2000, and at the coexistence session. We had sports activities (together).
CNN: Has this opportunity to be together changed the way you see each other and the way you see this conflict that you happen to have back at home?
Obu Zant: Well, we learn to appreciate each other for just being who we are and having the opinion that each one of us has. Even if we have different opinions about something, we disagree with a lot of things but still we are able to understand each other and where that point of view came from. We come to an understanding a lot of times.
Shulman: Seeds of Peace has taught us that even if we disagree on things, we can still understand each others opinions and point of view. And through those perspectives we can help each other and support each other.
CNN: Being together in this program and actually having the chance to talk to each other as human beings, you now cannot imagine throwing rocks at each other?
Obu Zant: Of course not.
CNN: When you are here in the United States and watching media coverage of what is happening back in your homeland, what do you think of it when you are watching it on television?
Shulman: After the bombing in Jerusalem, a lot of the Israelis panicked because we had some people that live in Jerusalem, so we called home to see what was going on. And some of the parents reacted like, ‘Oh it’s just a bombing, everything is okay.’ And we were so stressed out. It’s very amusing.
Obu Zant: And at the same time … when a bombing happens in Tel Aviv, Netanya, or Jerusalem, I get worried about the friends that I met through Seeds of Peace that live in those areas, and I call them up to see if they are okay, and if their families and friends are okay. If a bombing happens in the city where I live, Tulkarem, my Israeli friends will call me up to see if I’m okay and express how they don’t agree with the way Israel retaliates and the way they use their weapons against people, and sometimes make mistakes … it just brings us together sometimes.
CNN: Has being in another country and being able to sit and talk and watch it from a distance, has that been able to change your minds about things?
Shulman: We can absorb things, observe what’s happening, and why they’re happening … and what we can do to stop that … how can we help each other, support each other, while these things are happening.
CNN: I’m sure there are many people that wish that you can successfully take that message back to your homes and your homelands. Thank you for your time and good luck talking to Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Obu Zant: Thank you very much.
Shulman: Thank you very much.
BY DENISE WIDMAN | During a family dinner one night before the recent presidential election, our sixth-grade daughter reflected, “I don’t understand why countries fight. Why can’t the leaders just talk and work things out?”
It seems so simple—in theory. Yet, during the last few years, our middle school children have witnessed significant world strife: the 9/11 attacks; the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, among others. Is there a way to avoid such conflicts before they turn so destructive?
Jonathan Rabinowitz, 31, a sixth-grade social studies teacher at the Wellesley Middle School, is convinced he has found a way. Last summer, Mr. “R,” as he is affectionately called by his students, participated in a two-week program known as Beyond Borders. Sponsored by Seeds of Peace, an organization headquartered in Otisfield, Maine, and revered for its leadership camp, the Beyond Borders program brought together 25 adult educators from the United States and several Arab countries.
Led by experienced facilitators, the educators participated in an intensive exchange program. To begin the course, the group spent several mornings in sessions learning active listening and brainstorming skills. Also, in an effort to break down stereotypes, the participants exposed their preconceptions of each other’s cultures.
For Rabinowitz, who is Jewish, some of the stereotypical notions quickly hit home. He was surprised how much Arab views of America are intertwined with their opinions of Jewish people and the amount of misunderstanding that exists. While Jews represent only a tiny minority in the United States and internationally, Rabinowitz found himself dispelling the notions that “Jews control the world and the media.”
Conversely, some members of the Arab delegation were apprehensive that, while visiting the United States, American citizens would view them as terrorists.
“How the American side perceives Arab culture is often different from how they see themselves,” Rabinowitz said. “For example, there was much discussion about women’s rights in the Arab world. Democratic freedoms for women, such as the right to drive or vote, were not often viewed similarly by the Arabs and Americans. For instance, one Saudi Arabian woman felt she was treated very well in her home country, and lacking the privilege to drive was not a personal insult but simply part of her country’s cultural structure.”
In addition, contrary to what many Americans believe, not all Arabs oppose United States policies, he said. In fact, there is much disagreement among the various Arab nations regarding their positions on the war in Iraq, he added.
Next came an important part of the program. Each delegation was assigned two topics: “What do you as an American (or Arab) want the other delegation to know about your society?” and “What do you want to learn about the various Arab cultures (and vice versa)?”
The groups then prepared presentations that were delivered over the next few days. In addition to the structured exercises aimed at building relationships, the groups went on field trips to learn more about American culture. The Americans took their Arab counterparts to visit such Americana as a fire station, a bowling alley and a shopping plaza. Another outing was to the home of an elderly woman who lived alone and welcomed the team with homemade cookies.
The visit reinforced the concept of American independence, since the notion of older people living on their own is unusual in other cultures.
The second part of the Beyond Borders program is occurring as this article is published. The delegation is now in Jordan where Arabs and Americans will learn about Arab culture in “their backyard,” as the group again works through the steps of the leadership curriculum, this time on Arab soil.
Why did Mr. “R,” who was born in South Africa and emigrated with his family when he was 6 years old, choose to apply to the Beyond Borders program?
“As a teacher, it is imperative to get outside the classroom and experience what we teach. I wanted to bring fresh material back to the students for a discussion of stereotypes and religion. We are fortunate that Wellesley has a broad-based religion unit where we can explore these issues.”
When asked to summarize this invaluable experience, Rabinowitz pondered a moment. “It’s all about perceptions,” he responded thoughtfully.
JEN FISH | OTISFIELD In the aftermath of a suicide bomb attack on Israel in the 1990s, Hazem Zanoun can remember how he and his fellow Palestinians waited fearfully for Israel’s response. And then he received a telephone call. The caller was an Israeli friend Zanoun had made while attending the Seeds of Peace camp in Maine.
The phone call from an Israeli, asking him if he was OK and if he needed anything, is solid proof, Zanoun said, that Seeds of Peace does make a real difference.
“I remember thinking, ‘This is working, this is real,’ ” Zanoun said. Zanoun told his story Tuesday at a symposium on the Middle East presented by Seeds of Peace and the Mitchell Institute, two organizations dedicated to building tomorrow’s leaders.
The symposium, moderated by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, covered a wide range of topics but focused on the importance of the next generation of leaders making peace in the Middle East a reality.
Aaron David Miller, president of Seeds of Peace, told the audience that the personal relationships and contributions made by future Palestinians and Israelis will ensure a lasting peace beyond any agreements made by politicians.
“It is going to take years to turn a political agreement into real peace,” he said. “I am not going to inherit the Holy Land, they are,” Miller said, gesturing to the younger audience members wearing the green Seeds of Peace T-shirts.
Those leaders, Miller continued, will be people like Zanoun and Shira Kaplan, another Seeds graduate who participated in the symposium.
Kaplan, an Israeli, told the audience that Seeds of Peace alumni are responsible for maintaining “a cautious, realistic optimism” that disrupts the hopelessness and pessimism that have dominated the Middle East.
“Conflicts are like coins, they have two sides,” she said. “Too many people are rushing to pick sides in this conflict. We’re looking for people who can watch the conflict from both sides.”
Both Miller and Mitchell reiterated the importance of finding a peace agreement, saying it should be a priority for the United States.
“This is critical to our national interests,” Mitchell said, citing the country’s dependence on foreign oil. Speaking about his experience helping to forge peace agreements in Northern Ireland, Mitchell said that people in the Middle East must have “hope and opportunity” for there to be peace.
Miller added that while solving the Middle East problem would not end terrorism, it would help America’s credibility in the world and reduce extremism in the region.
Founded in 1993 by the late journalist and author John Wallach, Seeds of Peace brings youths from warring countries together to a summer camp in Otisfield to promote understanding, overcome prejudices and teach peaceful ways of resolving conflicts. The Mitchell Institute provides a scholarship to one student from every public high school in Maine each year and conducts research on the barriers to education for Maine students.
Since January, Seeds of Peace programs have focused on intensive uni-national programs, where Israeli Seeds were able to talk with other Israeli Seeds about the conflict, and Palestinians did the same.
The event in Netanya was the first time the two sides were brought together to discuss the war in Gaza and southern Israel. It provided Seeds with a significant opportunity to talk together about their experiences of the war, work through their anger and disappointment, and ultimately renew their connections with each other and their commitment to search for understanding.
The dialogue sessions were led by 14 Israeli and Palestinian professional facilitators, all but one of whom were trained by Seeds of Peace through the facilitation program. They were supervised on-site by Facilitation Course instructors Danny Metzl and Farhat Agbariyah. Senior Advisor and Director of Alumni Relations Tim Wilson’s inspirational talk helped to recall to the Seeds the transformational experience they had all gone through at camp and his presence did much to encourage Seeds, staff and volunteers to make the most of the opportunity provided by the seminar.
Interspersed with the dialogue sessions were several rounds of team-building activities, including some spirited and uniquely Seeds of Peace field sports like “Steal the Bacon,” as well as a lively “talent show” of skits and music put on by the Seeds. Another important feature of the event was the presence of several adult Delegation Leaders whose help in conducting events was invaluable. View a short video about the Delegation Leaders program produced by Seed alumni Fatma Elshobokshy.
The day began with a tour of the city and a trip to the Museum in Taibe. The Seeds then traveled to a Seed’s home, for a presentation and discussion led by Managing Director and Chief Administrator in Israel, Eyal Ronder, a Ministry of Education official, Rauf Daood, and the head of the Taibe Education Department. A delicious dinner was shared after the successful and exhilarating discussion.
On January 11-12, 2009 schools participating in the Model Schools Initiative in Jenin, Bena na’eem (outside of Hebron), Jerusalem and the UNRWA school in Walla Jay (close to Bethlehem) received a visit by Seeds of Peace representatives. The representatives met with principals and teachers at the schools to discuss implementations of techniques, learned at a June workshop in Jenin, current needs and further steps to be taken.
On February 14-16, 2009, the Israel-Middle East Model United Nations simulation was held. Topics discussed at the simulation included Col. Muammar Kaddafi, the African Union, and the human crisis in Somalia.
Mr. King’s path represents a tribute to ideals of equality and peace projected by his father. These ideals are values key to Seeds of Peace. On February 18, Seeds attended a jazz concert performed by Herbie Hancock, Chaka Khan and Dee Dee Bridgewater, along with the support of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. On February 19, the group met with Mr. King for a discussion at the Mani Bhavan (the Gandhi Museum). Mr. King was provided with Seeds of Peace literature and a copy of the Seeds of Peace magazine publication, the Olive Branch.
On February 15, Pakistani Seeds and educators gathered for a Sports Gala. The four hour event consisted of enjoyable badminton, table tennis, basketball and card games. Winners and runners-up of the games received trophies. All of those in attendance received SOP wristbands.
The week’s events were led by Director of Global Programming, Paul Mailhot, as well as Facilitation Training program instructors, Danny Metzel and Farhat Agbariyah. 16 Israeli and Palestinian Seeds worked with ASL kindergarten through high school students regarding conflict resolution tactics. Throughout the week, facilitators were involved in approximately 40 classes.
Additionally, the facilitators ran a panel discussion and question and answer session with parents, teachers and students, speaking of issues ranging from the Seeds of Peace organization to living in conflict in the Middle East. A meeting was held with parents in the International Community Committee. The week ended with a tour of the Houses of Parliament and tea with Lady Hameed.
For the week, Seeds were assigned ASL host families and ASL High School student buddies. This provided both Seeds and ASL members with an opportunity to establish a relationship, making the visit more memorable and meaningful. The visit was an overall success, allowing students, Seeds and parents alike the opportunity to share experiences and knowledge about conflict resolution, peace and decision-making.
To make a tax-deductible contribution to Seeds of Peace, click here.
NEW YORK | For one night in Manhattan, the peace process focused less on the history of the Green Line and more on the importance of the Punch Line. At Gotham Comedy Club in New York City, Palestinian-American comedian Amer Zahr hosted the 6th annual “Stand Up for Peace Comedy Benefit” and proved that humor knows no boundaries.
Joining Zahr onstage were seven other talented comedians as well as three alumni Seeds who shared their powerful stories with an audience of nearly 200 people. With the support of the Young Leadership Committee and sponsorship from the American University in Cairo, the event raised over $5,000 in support of Seeds of Peace’s programs in the Middle East and South Asia. Jacob Toll and Rami Qubain, both members of Seeds of Peace’s Junior Board of Directors, were instrumental in the planning and execution of the event.
The evening was filled with laughs as comics from diverse backgrounds, including Palestinian and Jewish comedians, shared a single stage. The comics covered topics relevant to current events in Middle East and poked fun at common stereotypes. The event proved that laughter can be a universal language, one capable of transcending national and religious divides.
Comedian Jim Dailakis was particularly moved by the evening and wrote the following on his professional blog:
“I was absolutely blown away by what this particular organization attempts to accomplish and does so with meaningful and undeniably optimistic results … The one most incredible thing I took away from the event and couldn’t stop thinking about on the train [afterwards] was the realization that we don’t have to wait for our politicians or people in power to make things happen. We can do it on our own.”
JERUSALEM | “Now, more than ever, I believe that it is important to dialogue with the other side,” said one of the Israeli and Palestinian teenagers who participated in an overnight seminar on February 5-6.
The binational event took place outside Jerusalem, at Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, the only intentional Arab-Jewish community in Israel.
The Seeds watched a theatrical performance detailing personal narratives of Jerusalem residents from both sides of the city, asked difficult questions of a panel of clerics, and met for intense dialogue sessions.
The religious panel was composed of a rabbi, a Catholic priest, and a sheikh: Rabbi Nir Barkin, a seventh generation Jerusalemite, serves as the spiritual leader of a congregation in Modi’in. Father Peter Mandros was born in the Old City of Jerusalem, received two doctorates in Biblical theology and science, and writes a regular column in Al-Quds newspaper. Dr. Najah Bakirat has a doctorate in Archaeology, History and Islamic Science and serves at the head of the Al-Aqsa Mosque’s Manuscript Department.
All three spoke about the importance of Jerusalem in their respective religions, and about tolerance of other faiths. Seeds listened intently and asked thought-provoking questions, covering topics such as Jesus’ command to love one’s enemy, the role of jihad in Islam, and the Ten Commandments.
The Jerusalem Stories performance was conducted in English, Arabic and Hebrew and illustrated the lives of six Jerusalem residents:
• Huda Ibrahim is an older Palestinian Muslim woman who sells olive oil and fruit on Salahadin Street. Her story related the struggles of traveling in and out of Jerusalem in recent times as well as her memories of better times in the past.
• Naomi Gutenmacher is an Israeli Jew who is the founder of a prayer group that started as a response to the violence of the Second Intifada. The performance described the value of prayer and community in times of difficulty.
• Shmuel Shefaim is an Israeli Jewish bus driver who is injured in a bombing but still returns to his work.
• Lana Abu Hijleh is a Palestinian Muslim woman whose mother, Shaden Abu Hijleh, was killed in Nablus.
• Miri Avitan is an Israeli Jewish woman whose son, Asaf Avitan, was killed in Jerusalem.
• Samir al Jundi is a Palestinian Muslim shopkeeper whose business selling souvenirs was damaged by decreased tourism during the time of escalated violence.
The seminar’s three dialogue sessions were led by graduates of the 15-month Seeds of Peace facilitation course, which provides professional training to Seeds alumni in their 20s who wish to lead dialogue sessions at the Seeds of Peace Camp, or with Seeds back home in the Middle East. The discussions gave both Israelis and Palestinians a chance to share their recent personal experiences and views on the conflict.
The participants were excited to be with each other again and to learn, explore and talk together—something so rare given the current situation.
An Arab-Israeli news channel aired a segment on the seminar during its evening broadcast.
AUGUSTA, MAINE | Over 150 Seeds, educators, and community members came together on September 14 to raise support and awareness for Seeds of Peace as part of Bridges to Peace 2014.
The walk raised $3,400, led by students at South Portland High School and Kents Hill School.
United Somali Women of Maine Director and Seed mother Fatuma Hussein delivered an opening speech about the possibility of peace and social change in Maine. The walkers then made their way to the Maine State House, crossing the Memorial Bridge together. The group stopped at the Samantha Smith statue to honor the local Cold War peace activist who died in 1985 at age 13.
Following the walk, the Maine Seeds held a seminar to outline their goals for creating positive social change in their schools and home communities during the academic year. Seeds led small-group dialogues on topics such as the lack of diversity in school curricula, economics of education, media, LGBTQ issues facing Maine youth, and gender and feminism. They also held planning sessions for the annual Maine Youth Summit and Maine Youth Charter.
Seeds then facilitated a dialogue on race, opening with a poem by a Maine Seed that address issues relating to racism, privilege, and violence against young people of color across the country. The Seeds plan to continue the conversation during a summit in November that will bring together Maine community leaders.
Photo credits: Mark & Deanna Photography
BRIDGES TO PEACE MAINE 2014
