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Forum explores Israeli media landscape

Jan 27, 2018 / No Comments

JERUSALEM | There have never been more ways to instantly access the latest news happening around the world and in our communities, making the role that journalists play as the gatherers and gatekeepers of this information more critical than ever.

A dozen people gathered on January 26 at the Lev Theater in Tel Avi for the Seeds of Peace Media E-Forum to discuss the current state of journalism in Israel. The group included eight Israeli Seeds, several of whom are journalists, as well as a few Palestinians who also work in media.

Key topics of the conversation included coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and representation of minorities and women in Israeli media, as well as the future of media in Israel.

There were no keynote speakers or lectures; the point of the gathering was to have an open conversation between journalists and consumers of media about “the most critical, burning questions in media today,” according to Ashraf Ghandour, Seeds of Peace Alumni Engagement Manager and an organizer of the event.

Itamar (2013 Israeli Seed) expressed that his thoughts on how local media outlets could reach more people without the usual barriers that often separate journalists and their audiences:

“As a user of social media and having been exposed to reporting through the mainstream media, I would suggest that media platforms make the necessary changes to make more stories accessible, in formats that would suit the modern day viewers,” he said. “I think this is where you are missing your audience.”

And in an age where uncomfortable facts are often written off as “fake news” or one sided, the event was also a chance for media consumers to better understand what drives some of the people working in the media.

“What leads my work is sticking to the truth and seeking it out for the sake of my readers,” said Adir (2008 Israeli Seed), an investigative journalist with the Israeli news outlet Ynet. “This is what drives me to be a better journalist.”

Seeds of Peace community in Middle East connect over Ramadan iftar dinners

Jun 15, 2018 / No Comments

JERUSALEM | In a month dedicated to reflection and growth, a series of Ramadan iftar dinners in the Middle East gave Seeds and supporters an opportunity to reconnect, make new friends, and reflect on the issues within their communities and what it means to be a Seed in these turbulent times.

Over 150 Seeds and their parents, Educators, Seeds of Peace staff, and friends celebrated the Muslim holy month of Ramadan by breaking their daily fast together at iftar dinners held across the region.

In a restaurant in Nablus, the iftar also served an educational purpose for the nearly 40 Seeds, Educators, and parents from the West Bank communities of Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nablus. Taking place just nine days after the new U.S. Embassy opened in Jerusalem, the event featured a discussion with a political analyst from a local university so attendees could further explore the significance of the Embassy’s move.

“Getting together over Ramadan is always a nice way to reach out to the community, to involve parents or dialogue leaders who we don’t see as often and keep them updated,” said Claire Dibsy Ayed, Seeds of Peace’s chief business and legal affairs officer.

“But we also wanted to give a chance to increase understanding and provide clarification of not just what the Embassy move means on a political level, but what it means deep down for us, as a country and as Palestinians.”

Current events were also among the topics several days later, at an iftar held on May 26 at the Shepherd Hotel in Bethlehem. Forty-six Seeds, Educators, and parents from Hebron, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem mingled, caught up on news, and relished the opportunity to gather in a place where many rarely travel.

“After the iftar, many parents sent us text messages thanking us for the giving them the chance to meet each other,” Claire said. “Although they live in the same area, many, especially our parents in Jerusalem, don’t travel often to the West Bank. The iftar gave them a chance to meet, talk, and share their experiences and ideas.”

Another iftar followed on June 2, this time at the Al Waleed Resort in Tamra, a town in northern Israel. It was attended by 18 Seeds, all Palestinian citizens of Israel.

“We wanted to give them their own space and opportunity to talk about their own issues and about whether our focus should go on solving the conflict or solving community problems, like crime, unemployment, and other issues that relate directly to their minority in Israel,” said Bashar Iraqi, a Seeds of Peace Middle East Program Director. “We had a great dialogue.”

And on June 14, 29 Seeds, Educators, and friends met on the Gaza beach to break their fast, share their experiences from Camp, and reflect on what it means to be a part of Seeds of Peace.

“In this critical time,” one attendee said, “I’m doing my best to use the strategies and some of the exercises I learned during at Camp with my family, and with myself.”

Afghan Seeds discuss how to make positive contributions in their society

Feb 21, 2014 / No Comments

KABUL | Afghan Seeds came together February 21 for a “Be the Change” Workshop in Kabul.

The 11 participants explored serious challenges facing Afghanistan—from illiteracy to corruption, unemployment, poverty and human rights abuses—and strategized ways to they might contribute to addressing them.

The resulting objectives will now be used by Seeds of Peace as a road map for planning future activities in Afghanistan.

The Seeds also explored their individual and collective identities, and discussed the challenges they face as Afghan Seeds, approaching these topics through interactive exercises and small group activities.
 
BE THE CHANGE

Palestinian Seeds hold community dialogue on Jerusalem rights violations

Jun 17, 2014 / No Comments

USAID

JERUSALEM | Four Palestinian Seeds and 12 other members of their communities met on June 15 as part of Seeds of Peace’s ongoing series of Community Dialogues funded by USAID, in which Seeds identify, design, and implement programs based on what they perceive as the most important conflict-related issues facing their societies.

The participants gathered to discuss Israeli rights violations in Jerusalem with the help of a representative from an Israeli human rights and peace organization.

The organization, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), presented about the history of Jerusalem and the challenges its Palestinian residents face, from residency and property rights limits to home demolitions and displacement. Participants asked questions about ICHAD’s mission and the challenges it faces.

Seeds and community members then engaged in a facilitated discussion about the Israeli occupation, and the topics covered in the presentation. Many shared personal stories about their experiences as well as their opinions.

“I believe Jerusalem is for all religions,” said one participant. “Each one of us should respect the other religious views.”

Teenagers from India, Pakistan Bond at Seeds of Peace camp
Washington File (US Department of State)

Jul 18, 2002 / 3 Comments

BY WENDY S. ROSS | OTISFIELD, MAINE For three weeks in June and July a group of 36 boys and girls from India and Pakistan lived together, played together, and grew to understand one another at the Seeds of Peace summer camp in rural Maine.

The camp, started ten years ago by journalist John Wallach, brings 13- to 16-year olds from opposing sides of regional conflicts together for several weeks each summer at a lakeside camp in the hopes that by getting to know the “enemy” they can learn ways to avert violence and war between their peoples.

The Indian and Pakistani youth were among 166 campers at the first summer session of the 2002 Seeds of Peace program. The other campers in the first session came from Afghanistan and the Middle East. Two other summer sessions are scheduled.

Aside from regular camp activities such as sports, art, music, cabin life, and meals together, the youth at the camp meet daily with trained facilitators in coexistence sessions, where they discuss their regional conflicts—in the case of the Indian and Pakistani youth, the tension over Kashmir.

Wasif Munir, a 14 year old boy from Lahore, Pakistan, said that when he first arrived at the camp in Maine “there was a big barrier of hatred” between himself and the Indians. But gradually, he said, he was able “to demolish that barrier,” and, in fact, to make friends with all of the Indian youth at the camp.

“Each and everyone from the Indian delegation is my friend,” now, he said in a July 9 interview.

Wasif said that before coming to the camp he knew nothing about the festivals, culture, or religion of the Indians, but now has gained a lot of knowledge. He said he was worried about the camp’s coexistence sessions before coming, but when he arrived he realized that the atmosphere was friendly and that it “was quite easy to communicate” with the Indians. He added that when he returns home to Lahore he is going to tell his relatives and friends and teachers of his experiences at the camp, and is looking forward to writing some articles about what he has gained from Seeds of Peace.

Fourteen year old Madhumita Venkataramanan, from Bombay, India, also interviewed July 9, supported Wasif’s positive evaluation of the camp experience. She said when she first came to the camp she too was “very apprehensive. I thought I had to prove my point to the other side to make them understand our side of the story.”

“I never thought that I would also be learning so much from them,” she said. Madhumita explained that in the daily coexistence sessions the Indian and Pakistani youngsters “opened up to each other,” and talked a lot about things connected to their regional conflict that they had never talked about before.

“We cried together, we told painful stories about things that had happened, everyone was crying for each other, so I know these are going to be relationships that will never break,” Madhumita said.

“Yesterday, we were discussing Kashmir, and we had to list our fears about what would happen if Kashmir either goes to India or to Pakistan,” she said. “We finally realized that we actually understood each other’s fears, we might not accept them, or agree with them, but we understood them, and we knew what they feared, and they began to understand us.”

“Many of these Pakistani friends are closer than friends I’ve made at home, and I know that it’s going to be a lasting thing,” she said.

“When you come here, nationalities are not important,” she said. “There’s no barrier of any kind. When we come together we’re all just kids playing and teasing and having fun. Of course there are serious moments also. But when we come here it’s like we’re all as one. A totally different experience over here.”

Thirteen year old Anum Mehmood from Lahore, Pakistan, said when she first arrived at the camp she did not like the coexistence sessions. “At first there was pointless shouting, no one even looked at each other or listened to each other, and they just kept on shouting and raging,” she said in an interview.

“At first none of us were able to admit to anything. We were so firm in our beliefs that we are right, we are not going to believe anything they say because they are wrong and we are right,” she said.

“Everyone had bad faces. It was really terrible. Our two facilitators really worked hard. And now we listen, even if we don’t accept. We really, really have made some progress,” she said.

“Today we were thinking about a suitable solution to Kashmir agreeable to both sides. We didn’t have 100 percent agreement, but we got about 75-80 percent agreement,” she said.

“We decided a plebiscite should be organized by India and Pakistan and a third neutral party which can join these two forces,” she said.

The problem, she added, “is that we could not think of a party neutral enough to do that.”

Next summer, according to Seeds of Peace staff, the program is hoping to have young people from Kashmir at the camp. Told about this possibility, the Indian and Pakistani campers interviewed all thought it was a wonderful idea.

Also interviewed were the adult delegation leaders from India and Pakistan, two from each country, who accompanied the youngsters to the camp, and who participated in a program similar to that of the kids. Noella De Souza, a teacher from India, said she was “happy to be part of the process of our kids learning to listen to each other and understand each other.”

She said she was “amazed at the way their understanding for each other had grown at the camp.”

Arifa Habib, a physics teacher from Pakistan, said “Personally it’s been very rewarding to see prejudices fall away.” She said the children “are fed with a lot of propaganda,” about the conflicts of their countries and “they need to learn to analyze, and not simply accept, everything that is told to them.”

Dilip D’Souza, a journalist from India, said “the most interesting aspect of this whole exercise for me is what’s happening to the kids, watching them grow.”

He added that in some ways the four adult leaders, may not accurately represent the views of their respective countries “because the four of us tend to agree on a lot more than we disagree on. We just tend to agree, we all four of us, are somewhat cynical about the way our respective governments work and how that has contributed to the hostility. So in that sense, perhaps there should have been adults who are more gung ho about going at each other.”

Sajjad Ahmed, a clinical psychologist from Pakistan, said he also liked the Seeds of Peace program. “A new journey is always a learning, for our kids, for myself as well,” he said.

“From our program,” he said, “we learned to be more accepting, more cooperative. But the most important part is the kids program. It’s quite amazing to see how the kids have grown from when they first came to the camp.”

“It was quite amazing to see the Indian and Pakistani kids do their activities together, and become friends, it was great,” he said.

All four adult delegation leaders said they hope to write a series of articles together that will be a springboard for discussion in their respective countries to mobilize political thought. At the end of each article, they said, they want to write a note that all comments are invited and encouraged. The first article would be a report on the camp and the experience, and then they would move on to the topics raised in the replies they receive.

To sow seeds of peace, one camp puts teens face-to-face with their ‘enemy’
Newsweek

Oct 4, 2018 / No Comments

As seen in Newsweek on October 2, 2018

In a remote part of Maine shrouded with trees, 14- and 15-year-olds from the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the U.S, many of whom have long considered each other “the enemy,” spend three weeks side-by-side united by one goal; to open their minds and their ears to each other. At the Seeds of Peace camp, the teens eat, interact and engage in dialogue with people from countries some of them are banned from visiting.

While it may be a “summer camp,” executive director Leslie Adelson Lewin said it isn’t about s’mores and campfire sing-alongs. It’s about being a catalyst to global change.” Campers agree.

“I do really want to see where she comes from and meet her family and sleepover on her couch. Those little things that friends can do because they’re friends,” Habeeba, a 22-year-old Egyptian, told Newsweek. But, those simple bonding moments so many people take for granted aren’t possible solely because her friend, 22-year-old Adaya, is Israeli.

In public, Seeds of Peace campers are only identified by their first names because, for some, the release of their full identity could put them in danger.

Blossoming out of emails about ordinary teenage girl topics like crushes on boys, Adaya and Habeeba’s seven-year friendship began when they were bunkmates at Seeds of Peace. Their relationship has defied discourse, stereotypes and distance but without the camp, their nationalities would have likely kept them from meeting.

“I walked into camp with a lot of hatred and lack of understanding and respect,” Habeeba told Newsweek. “I wanted to prove a point and walk away. I wasn’t looking to listen or learn.”

Read the rest of Jenni Fink’s article at Newsweek â€șâ€ș

Alumni Profile: Lisa
‘Fighting like a lion’ for Chicago students

Sep 25, 2018 / No Comments

With American Seeds returning to school earlier this month, we’re shining a light on the Seeds of Peace Educators who attended our Educating in a Diverse Democracy course.

Begun in 2017, the program brings educators to Camp from across the United States to live together, learn from one another, and focus on their craft for two-and-a-half weeks. When they return home, they play a vital role in helping Seeds reach their goals, as well as multiplying impact across communities where Seeds of Peace already exists or hopes to grow.

“Educating in a Diverse Democracy—those were the words,” Lisa said, citing what it was that encouraged her in early 2017 to apply for the inaugural course. “I was educating already, but at that time—right after the election of Donald Trump—and now, this sort of experience was just so necessary.”

Nearly every student Lisa works with as an afterschool programs coordinator at Centro Romero, an organization that serves the immigrant and refugee community on the north side of Chicago, is from an immigrant family. About 80 percent of her students have at least one relative that is undocumented, she said, and after the 2016 election, the anxiety among the students was palpable.

“The adults had people they could go to, and services to help them, but the students had a lot of angst, especially the teens, and nowhere to go,” she said. “I was hoping to be able to talk to them better and help them through that time.”

Lisa was not immune to the stress. Normally an optimistic person, she said she went to Maine in the summer of 2017 feeling somewhat drained. She had no expectations, just a hope of meeting other educators and sharing their experiences. What she found, she said, “was mind blowing.”

“There were deep talks where we didn’t always agree, but we’d butt heads respectfully and come to a positive end,” she said. “Those two beautiful white men [fellow educators in the group] took a beating on some days, but they did it knowing we would listen to them as well. In the end we realized that not everyone’s perception was 100 percent right.”

While the discussions and workshops could be intense, she said the Educators program also gave her and her fellow participants the chance to slow down, reflect on their craft and learn the importance of “refilling the cup.”

“As educators, we give and give and give, and then go to bed wondering ‘Did I do enough?’” she said. “Now I know it’s important to restore myself, and when I do, I’m even stronger when I go back.”

The greatest takeaways, she said, were hope, and a community that she would continue to find support in—be it through emails, phone calls, or the WhatsApp group that they created after Camp. Though she went into the program feeling deflated, it was these people, she said, that helped her “come out fighting like a lion—and knowing that I wasn’t the only one fighting.”

Since leaving Camp, she said she’s also become more comfortable with difficult questions and topics, helping her be a better listener and advocate for her students. She sharpened skills she already had, and picked up new dialogue techniques, such as handing the power off to the youth in her program. She’s also used various pieces from Camp to incorporate restorative justice and be less punitive. When one student brought alcohol to the program, she used the “fishbowl” exercise, in which the students sat in a circle around the boy to listen as he explained his choices.

“He admitted what he was thinking, why he did it, how he lost the trust of his grandparents and how he’s going to work to bring it back,” she said, adding that the exercise had an added benefit for the other students involved. “Even though that circle was meant to have witnesses to the boy’s choice, the other students said they actually felt like they were heard as well. They all saw themselves in him.”

Among her goals this year, she said, is to push her students to take on community-oriented projects—another goal partially inspired by the Seeds of Peace model.

“We’ve been working on building their confidence and helping them find the greatness in them,” she said of her students. “But I always tell them, the only reason you have greatness is to share it.”

Palestinian, Israeli Seeds simulate elections, discuss recent violence

Dec 16, 2012 / No Comments

JERUSALEM | Israeli and Palestinian Seeds met separately this week in preparation for joint post-ceasefire gatherings. Though the meetings focused on different topics, both addressed one of the main program themes of Seeds of Peace local programs: understanding core conflict issues within and between societies.

Forty Palestinian Seeds came together for a daylong seminar in Ramallah to discuss Palestine’s status upgrade at the United Nations, violence in Gaza and Israel, and the credibility of the news media.

“Most of us were waiting for this event so we could empty what was inside us after all the conflict that we saw and lived through,” said Rawan, a Seed from 2012.

The bombings in Gaza and rocketfire on Israel was a central topic of the seminar.

“We sat in groups to discuss what happened,” said Tamara, a 2011 Seed. “In that moment, I knew that Seeds of Peace will always be here to support us and that it will always be a major part in our lives.”

Director of Palestinian Programs Mohammed NasserEddin used various dialogue exercises to get Seeds thinking critically about key issues, such as Palestinian recognition at the UN, instead of simply relying on what the media tells them.

“What was interesting about these activities were that they were based on question and answer sessions where Seeds responded to other Seeds,” he said. “Political group discussions among the Seeds makes them smarter in their opinions and in their decisions.”

In Jerusalem, the Israeli seminar had a similar emphasis on interactive learning. With Israeli elections on the horizon, Seeds discussed electoral politics and what they mean for the region.

Director of Israeli Programs Eldad Levy said the two-day seminar dealt with important political issues in a fun and engaging way.

“To me, this type of seminar is the prototype of successful education: fun, interactive, interesting and still focused on learning.”

Sixty Seeds participated in the seminar, 12 of them Palestinians living in Israel. Helping lead the activities were 13 Graduate Seeds from Camp years 1996 to 2005.

One of the Graduate Seeds leading activities was Tomer Perry, a 1996 Seed and Stanford University Ph.D. candidate. Perry had Seeds simulate their roles as either one of eight political parties or as journalists. The Seeds got into character as they ran for Knesset or covered the elections in the media. Seeds even met with “Hillary Clinton” to reach an agreement to return to the negotiation table.

Simulations like these got Seeds thinking about Israeli politics in new ways, since they had to analyze all campaigns, whether they were left or right wing, secular or religious, Jewish or Arab. Seeds also had to consider each party’s economic and social goals, and views on the peace process.

“The special aspect of this seminar is that we, the participants, were very active,” said Dani, a 2011 Seed. “We managed our own small-scale election campaign and thus learned a lot about the parties and electoral politics in Israel as they are, not necessarily as they are shown to us in the media.”

“Since the seminar, I wake up in the morning looking for news in the daily papers about the elections,” said Ophir, a 2012 Seed.

Seeds concluded the seminar by casting secret ballots for the parties they would support on election day. For Program Director Eldad, the result of his Israeli Seeds’ votes was a good sign.

“We have a wide spectrum of Israeli Seeds who believe in the importance of dialogue and moving forward with the peace process,” he said. “And for me that is encouraging.”
 
PALESTINIAN & ISRAELI MEETINGS

15 Minutes: Aaron David Miller
Social Innovation Review (Stanford Graduate School of Business)

Apr 2, 2005 / 1 Comment

Read this as a PDF »

In 2003, Aaron David Miller left his State Department post as a top Middle East peace negotiator and adviser to six secretaries of state to take the helm at Seeds of Peace, a nonprofit that brings together teenagers whose societies are in conflict. Seeds attempts, over the course of a summer at an unusual camp in Maine and through follow-up programming in conflict regions, to transform them into eventual leaders capable of seeking reconciliation. Since 1993, Seeds of Peace has developed a network of nearly 3,000 potential leaders from 25 nations.

You have spent your career focused on the most seemingly intractable issues facing mankind. What have you learned about the pursuit of peace, and how does it help you guide your organization?

The Arab-Israeli conflict can be resolved. What led me to resign from the State Department was my conviction that it has become a generational conflict. We are in great danger of losing an entire generation of young Arabs, Israelis, and Palestinians to a kind of hopelessness and despair that has characterized the situation over the last four years. I left the State Department not because I’d lost faith in what I call transactional diplomacy, which is the business of diplomats that I did for 25 years. But that is not enough. Transactional diplomacy has to be married to something else, and that something else is what I describe as transformational diplomacy—creating personal relationships between future leaders.

You really believe in achieving peace one person—one teenager—at a time?

While saving the world one person at a time is not the most ideal way to proceed, it’s critical if we’re ever going to move beyond peace as the purview of diplomats to the kind of reconciliation and peacemaking that needs to be shared by broader constituencies. Contacts and relationships must be forged between young leaders who will emerge as journalists, attorneys, legislators, sports figures, scientists. This is the stuff of which relationships between nations are built. If there’s a sense of sharing a common destiny and there are practical ways of cooperating, people see they’re part of the same structure. One person’s floor really is another person’s ceiling.

Can you truly be nonpolitical with so much politics involved?

We’re a nonpolitical organization in the sense that we don’t take positions on discrete issues. I was asked to take a position on the Iraq war, and I wasn’t going to because I’ve got George Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton on my advisory committee. We need the support of Democrats and Republicans in this country. We need the support of Labour prime ministers and Likud prime ministers in Israel. So it involves a degree of diplomacy and very careful management. It’s a nonprofit where there are all kinds of minefields.

Minefields?

We brought [Israeli Labour leader] Shimon Peres and [Palestinian university president] Sari Nusseibeh to Detroit, where we have a very large and very active friends committee. On the part of the Arab-American community, there were demonstrations against Peres outside the Ritz- Carlton where this event was held. I brought Queen Noor to Orlando, where we have another support group. There was great unhappiness among some elements in the Jewish community over things she had written in her book about her husband [King Hussein of Jordan]. So we’re constantly sitting on top of a political volcano. It goes off occasionally.

How do you keep the volcano from blowing?

I focus on the compelling nature of this work. I believe that only the forces of individuals through their own sense of courage and purpose can defeat the forces of history. And if we abandon the field to those impersonal forces of history, we have abandoned the future. If Israelis and Palestinians, 14, 15, 16 years old, who have lost friends and relatives to this conflict, can make the physical and psychological journey to living with one another and developing mutual respect—and sometimes even affection—for one another, it seems to me no obstacle is insurmountable, and I’m not going to indulge myself in thinking otherwise.

What enables you to achieve success with these teenagers?

We’ve created an environment which provides four basic freedoms that these kids simply cannot get at home – freedom of association without stigma, which is absolutely critical to building any kind of trust; freedom of movement, which they do not have at home; freedom to think critically and independently, tough to do while caught up in these conflicts; and freedom from fear of mortal harm. Their parents cannot guarantee them 24 hours of absolute security. For three and a half weeks, we can.

That creates big changes in them?

This environment sets the stage for a phenomenal transformation. That first night, you’ll find Israelis and Palestinians who won’t sleep. Not because they are homesick, which they are, or have jet lag, which they do, but because they’re terrified that during the course of the night physical harm will come to them from the other side. At the end of three and a half weeks, they are in mourning over perhaps never seeing each other again or being unable to have contact.

Specifically, what do you do to foster this change?

It happens because of the combination of the abnormal—90 minutes every day with facilitators who use all kinds of techniques—with the normal. We used to call them coexistence sessions. We now call them dialogue sessions. Coexistence implies simply allowing the other side to be. Real reconciliation is more than that. They’re really detoxification sessions in which hatred and poison from years of conflict come out.

Do they really change their outlook, ceasing all antagonism?

Can we claim the Israelis and Palestinians have resolved their conflict? No. Can we claim that the Arabs and Israelis will never again think ill thoughts of one another? No. But we can claim this: For the first time in their lives, they hear the narrative of the so-called other—the enemy—not from a rabbi or an imam or a priest or a politician or a journalist or a parent. They hear the story of the so-called other from a friend, a peer whose humanity and decency they simply can no longer deny. One Palestinian said to me, during the worst of the confrontation in summer 2002, “I come for one reason, to hear and be heard.” So with this transformative experience—and a decade of follow-up that we do—you end up creating authentic leaders who not only understand the needs and requirements of their own constituency, but they truly appreciate the requirements of the other. That is the essence of conflict resolution. It’s also the essence of leadership.

What makes for an effective leader of a nonprofit? What makes you effective?

You have to believe in it and convey that passion. And because I come from a world that is the opposite of nongovernmental organizations, it may well be that people pay more attention. I mean, why would somebody who was an adviser to six secretaries of state want to work with young people? The reason is that being part of something bigger than yourself, particularly on historic issues, is an honor and a privilege.

What did you learn at the bargaining table that enables you to do this?

It’s the way I define my own life: “The perfect should not be allowed to become the enemy of the good.” That phrase should be emblazoned over the portal of every negotiating room and boardroom in the world. The insistence on the pursuit of 100 percent in conflicts will get you nothing. Or worse than nothing. Life is all about finding a balance between the real and the ideal. The negotiation of real peace will not be the property of the margins; it will not be the property of the right or left. It will be at the center, where Seeds is.

What is the biggest challenge you face?

Other than managing politics? Fundraising. We accept money from corporate sponsors and foundations, but most comes from individuals and event-driven development, which is not the most effective way to marshal resources.

Why is it a challenge? Because of the time involved?

No. Because of what we try to do. Hamas is running 5,000 young people each summer through their camps. They’re not coexistence camps. We’re running 500. Those numbers don’t make any sense There is no greater challenge that this country faces than the challenge that is brewing in South Asia and the Arabic and Muslim world, and it’s a generational challenge. Except for resources, there’s no reason why Seeds couldn’t bring 5,000 each summer to two or three camps and have a significant multiplier effect by doing follow-up in the regions.

What’s the greatest difficulty in setting the budget?

The unpredictability of what we’re able to raise against what we’re spending. And making sure the budgets are real and that we can raise resources to cover it. This is the problem with any nonprofit—the need for some sort of financial cushion so chasing dollars isn’t the single most important act in the organization. We’re also putting a lot of resources now into evaluation.

So you go back later and see whether your program works?

Exactly. Zogby International has looked at a portion of our young people from camp sessions in 2003. The degree to which their attitudes—even in these circumstances—have been constant is encouraging. We are now doing a long-term study so we can see over a decade what a difference this program has made.

Why did you commission those studies? Can data bolster fundraising?

There had never been an effort to measure success and that was unacceptable. We need independent, credible evaluation to determine whether our program is working. Yes, of course it’s driven by our donors, foundations, corporate sponsors who want to know. And they have a right to know. The fact that you’re a nonprofit doesn’t free you from the kinds of standards all other credible organizations have to measure themselves by, and be measured by others. We also want to know whether programs work. We can adjust or modify them if they’re not.

What’s the structure of your organization?

I have a diverse board of 25 committed people and a smaller executive committee. Both help with fundraising. We’re now doing a strategic plan, and that brings up many issues.

Such as?

A second camp. Should we concentrate on one conflict or continue to deal with two or three? Is event-driven development the best way to go? Should the focus of our activities be in the regions [where conflict occurs] or in the United States? I feel the region is where success or failure lies. Historically, we started with the camp in Maine.

So there’s tension over deviating from your original mission?

Remember, this organization was created in 1993 by a Hearst journalist, John Wallach. Forty-five of the first Seeds grads—Israeli, Palestinian, and Egyptian teens—were on the White House lawn on Sept. 13, 1993 [when Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin signed the Oslo Accords]. In 2000, everything broke down. We’ve got to go to regional or even uninational approaches, not as a substitute for dialogue, but to empower these young people within their communities so they don’t become delegitimized.

So you have to manage a transition?

Some small nonprofits never survive the deaths of their charismatic founders. That whole process of transition—how you move from an entrepreneurial phase of a nonprofit with a founder beloved by all to the institutional phase, there’s dislocation in that.

How do all these changes—enlarging operations, disagreements internally, a polarized world—affect your organization and outlook?

It is all infinitely more complicated. But it is also incredibly exciting and challenging. The opportunities to present a very compelling mission and a model for how to deal with these conflicts have expanded exponentially. I went down to talk to the ExxonMobil corporate board last month for possible support. They understand not only from the corporate public relations perspective but from also the global reality and substance that organizations like this one are worth supporting. So I believe political circumstances have broadened potential constituencies.

So you feel more hopeful?

I think 2005 will bring a break in the Israel-Palestinian stalemate. But if you ask me when you can see anything remotely resembling peaceful normal relations between nations, I think it will be a couple of decades. That’s right about the time our oldest graduates will be coming into their own.

Secretary of State Albright’s remarks at Seeds of Peace 6th Anniversary Dinner

Apr 26, 1998 / No Comments

NEW YORK | As released by the Office of the Spokesman, U.S. Department of State (as delivered):

SECRETARY OF STATE MADELINE K. ALBRIGHT: John, thank you very much, and thank you very much Nancy, Passant, Noa, Sa’ad, Kheerallah and Shouq. I have been honored to receive a number of awards in recent years, but I never have received one from Seeds. I will put it right in my office so that every time I look at it, I will be encouraged in my diplomatic gardening.

(Applause.)

Excellencies, Congressman Wayne Owens, and Congressman John Dingle, John Wallach, my good friend Richard Dreyfuss—congratulations—distinguished guests and friends good evening and thank you all very, very much. I never met Ruth Ratner Miller. And I am very, very sorry that I didn’t. But as you know, I have had the pleasure of working closely with her extraordinary son. And I know she was a remarkable woman. And Aaron, thank you very much for sticking through all this. We will do it. Thank you, very much.

She cared passionately about the cause of Middle East peace because she cared passionately about people—all people—and because she would not accept the view of some that there are limits to what can be achieved by people of good faith and good will working together. So I will accept this award on behalf of all those who believe that we should never allow the old limits, the conventional wisdom about what people can accomplish to hold us back. Rather we should push through those limits like plants rising through the soil.

Certainly this is the spirit that has helped the Seeds of Peace Program take root and grow from 45 participants five years ago, to a total of what will be now 1,000 ambassadors of peace who will have graduated by this summer. And this program is growing not only in numbers but in depth and ambition. I would like to really pay great tribute to John Wallach, who has done all of this, and who is a remarkable leader.

(Applause.)

Now, I have to tell you that John used to be journalist. Just think.

(Laughter.)

John, really, this is your dream and you have done an amazing job. And I am so proud to have gotten to know about this program. And it’s thanks to you and Aaron that I now consider myself not a Seed—I’m a little too big for that—but part of this.

We look forward to the Seeds of Peace Summit in Geneva next month and to the unprecedented summer sessions planned in Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan this summer. And most of all—most of all, we look forward to the day not far off when graduates of this program will begin to take their place in governments, on university faculties, and in businesses, social and religious institutions. And we can hope that the currents of tolerance and understanding they unleash will gather first into a mighty stream and then an unstoppable tide.

Sadly, the year since we gathered last spring to honor His Majesty King Hussein has been disappointing for friends of peace in the Middle East. A crisis of confidence has eroded the spirit of partnership between Israelis and Palestinians. We’ve witnessed horrible incidents of terror, seen unhelpful unilateral actions and heard both sides employ harsh accusations that have undermined the spirit of partnership necessary to advance peace. Last September—and then again in February—during visits to the Middle East, I saw firsthand the divisions and the deep sense of disappointment and uncertainty that exists in Israel, on the West Bank, and to an extent throughout the region. Because of these divisions, we have entered a period of grave danger.

We face the possibility that the momentum that had been built in the direction of peace will snap back and begin to run in reverse. If that happens, we may see a future in the Middle East that mirrors the grim and conflict-ridden past. We cannot let that happen—I repeat—we cannot let that happen.

(Applause.)

The leaders on all sides in the region know the history. For better or worse, they will one day be chapters in it. They also know that their peoples have gained much from the progress already made. Because of past breakthroughs strongly supported by the United States, Israel is at peace with Egypt and Jordan when in past decades they engaged in bitter war. As the State of Israel approaches its 50th anniversary this week—an event that Vice President Gore will be helping Israelis celebrate—Israel has an opportunity to obtain the security is has for too long been denied.

The United States understands how important this objective and is unshakably committed to helping Israelis achieve it. The way is now open if the will to resume negotiations is there for a comprehensive peace that includes Syria and Lebanon. A road map has been set out for regional cooperation on everything from water to the environment to refugees. The international community—including the United States—is working with the Palestinian people to relieve poverty, build infrastructure and create jobs.

And as a consequence of Oslo, Israelis and Palestinians have reached a series of agreements that if properly implemented will leave Israel more secure, Palestinians with real self-government and real responsibility for their own affairs, and create for both a chance to negotiate the core elements of a permanent peace. These are historic achievements that should not dismissed, underestimated, or forgotten. They provide the foundation for a future in which every people in the region could realize its hopes, in which every people could live free from the threat of terror and war—in which every people could exist in dignity and in which each could have the skills and the opportunity to participate in the global economy.

Ecclesiastics tells us there is a time to every purpose under Heaven. Tonight, the children of the Middle East have told us that this is the time for peace.

When I leave here tonight, I will fly to the Pacific Rim. And after my business there is done, I will fly further west until—in a week—I arrive in London. I will meet there separately with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Chairman Arafat. We will see then whether the two leaders are prepared to make the tough choices required to move the peace process along.

My message will be straightforward. It is no longer enough just to talk, or to talk about having more talks. We have been going around in circles for far too long.

Under Oslo, an agreement on permanent status should be reached by May 4, 1999, exactly one year from our meeting in London. The United States takes that date very seriously. Every effort should be made to meet that target. It will be difficult. But, as Ruth Ratner Miller would have reminded us, anything is possible if the will is there to get the job done.

What is needed is a recommitment to the spirit of partnership; a determination to work not against, but with each other; a willingness to agree to concrete steps; and the vision and courage sufficient to seize the strategic opportunity for peace that past progress has created.

In a very real sense, what we are asking Israelis and Palestinians and other Arabs to do as societies is what the Seeds of Peace program asks our young people—and by implication, all of us—to do as individuals.

To learn enough about history to know that others, too, have suffered and been treated unjustly.

To learn enough about our neighbors to know them not as crude stereotypes but as individuals, with apprehensions, affections and aspirations comparable to our own.

To learn enough about ourselves to understand that our own happiness cannot rest for long on the misery or deprivation of others, but rather must be built on the solid ground of decency and fairness.

And to care enough about the future to reject the easy path of recrimination and blame, and to climb instead the uphill path out of the wilderness to the high ground, where one-time enemies may live in prosperity and peace.

These are not easy lessons to learn. Perhaps, like a new language, the young find them less difficult. But none of us are too old to think and act anew.

Despite all the setbacks of the recent past, I am convinced that we will be able to say, one day, that these lessons have been learned.

The desire for peace, like the Burning Bush, is never consumed. Together, we must act on that desire.

In the words of King Hussein, “Let us not keep silent. Let our voices rise high enough to speak of our commitment to peace for all times to come. And let us tell those who live in darkness, who are the enemies of life and true faith, this is where we stand. This is our camp.”

Excellencies, friends, Seeds of Peace, tonight let us echo King Hussein’s call. Let us dedicate ourselves to enlarging our camp, so that the circle of peace embraces every Israeli, Palestinian and Arab in every nation in every part of the Middle East.

Inspired by the memory of Ruth Ratner Miller and by the example of the Seeds of Peace, let us cast our lot with those who have chosen to climb the path of reconciliation; let us support them, help them, and see them safely through.

As John said, I decided that I needed to come here even though I’m supposed to be on my way to the far East. I think that after listening to the Seeds and their message, I thing you know that I go with the wind at my back.

Thank you very much.

Read transcript at the U.S. Department of State »