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Seeds of Change
Detroit Free Press

Aug 2, 2002 / No Comments

This Special Camp Brings Together Young People From Areas of Conflict to Become Ambassadors of Peace

BY JEFF GERRITT | Hate can be as addicting as crack, and almost as tough to kick. For the last 10 years, the Seeds of Peace camp in Otisfield, Maine, has served as a kind of drop-in detox center for young minds.

For teenagers coming from the blood-stained Middle East, the supply of hate is as pure as it gets and available on demand. As tensions have risen over the last two years, even pushing for peace has become uncool. Back home, some of these kids will be called sell-outs or traitors because they have made friends with someone from the other side. No longer will they feel at ease living in the black-and-white world of their friends, where Israelis are evil land-grabbers and Palestinians are rock-throwing terrorists.

“I feel lonely when I go back,” Osama Jamal, 16, a Palestinian refugee spending his third summer at the camp, told me. “I tell someone I have an Israeli friend and they say, ‘What, how can you?’ ”

At the Seeds of Peace camp, Jamal has eaten and slept next to Israelis, and he has gotten tight with a few of them. “Before I came here, I was closed-minded,” he said. “I thought Israelis were terrorists. They’re bad people. Here, I’ve had a chance to change.”

Since 1993, the nonprofit camp has brought together more than 2,000 teens from regions in turmoil worldwide. It combines sports and other outdoor activities with group discussions designed to get young people out of their own skins. “You see the human side of your so-called enemy and nothing looks the same again,” said Tamer Shabaneh, a 17-year-old Palestinian.

Journalist John Wallach, who died last month, founded the camp, starting with 40 Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian teenagers. The Middle East remains the camp’s signature program, but Seeds of Peace now works with youths from 22 countries, including the United States. The young people usually are picked by the departments of education in their own countries. Black, white, Latino and Asian youths from nearby Portland have also gone through the three-week programs. Daily coexistence sessions give young people a chance to run down the issues, role play, confront each other and, most importantly, learn to trust and respect those who think differently.

The Free Press visited the camp on Wednesday, arriving on a corporate jet provided by a local Seeds of Peace board member; the newspaper shared the expenses.

In one session, nine Israeli and Palestinian teenagers debated Israeli settlements, whether it was an honor to die for your country, and media images of each other. Instead of shouting or shooting at each other, they spoke with an equal measure of passion and calm. And they listened—really listened.

The last time I heard Israelis and Palestinians talk about these issues was in October, when I spent a week in the West Bank and Israel. There, Israelis and Palestinians talk plenty about each other, but rarely with each other. That’s too bad, because both sides can make sense. When you see the daily indignities that nearly all Palestinians suffer in their own land—the security checkpoints, the curfews, the leveled homes and blocked streets in their neighborhoods—you feel their frustration. When you understand the daily random terror that Israelis face in the most ordinary places, you know why they feel under siege.

Seeds of Peace graduates returning to the Middle East are like former drug addicts going back to the streets. When the killing starts—and in the Middle East it never stops—the easy way out is to start hating and resort to stereotypes and easy answers.

Even in this wooded sanctuary overlooking Pleasant Lake, the conflict back home looms large and often sends campers jetting to the telephone. The teens heard the news last week when the Israeli government bombed a Gaza City neighborhood, killing a Hamas leader but also 14 other Palestinians. And they heard Wednesday, the day I spent at the camp, of the bombing that killed at least seven people at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Such incidents can cause some heated exchanges in camp, but for the most part the young people stay focused. They are realists who know there will be no peace in the Middle East until there is a just political settlement both sides can live with. And there will be no progress toward that peace as long as both sides have no trust. The teenagers I talked with were not necessarily optimistic about the chances for peace, at least in the short-term, but they remain hopeful and determined.

“The fact that I’m hearing what other people have to say is enough for me, personally,” said David Shoolman, a 17-year-old Israeli. “I’ll tell people that I have a Palestinian friend, and he’s a great person. That’s how I measure progress.”

Making a friend from the other side is a small victory that enables these teens to carry on. Life back home for these ambassadors of peace will not change soon, but at least they know that change is worth fighting for.

“I would not say I’m optimistic about peace, but I know how the world can be, and it makes me want to fight even harder for it,” said Netta Berg, a 16-year-old Israeli. “Whenever I see how bad things are, I think of here, this place, and I know what the future should look like.”

But by the time Berg gets home, Israel will probably have retaliated for the university bombing, which Hamas called revenge for the Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip. Just as certainly, Hamas will retaliate for Israel’s retaliation.

And on it goes. The body bags fill up and hate becomes the drug of choice in the Middle East. A clocker waits on every corner. I can only hope that Berg and her classmates stay clean.

From California to Kabul, connecting over podcasts and Zootopia

Aug 5, 2020 / 1 Comment

When I met Sajia, a 2009 Afghan Seed and 2020 GATHER Fellow, over video chat, I was immediately inspired by her presence and her ideas about education; especially her interest in empowering youth to design and implement their own projects within their communities.

We are both passionate about reaching youth—Sajia founded the Baale Parwaz Library in Kabul, and I’ve worked as an educator for 11 years—and the more we talked about our field, the more I realized how ideologically aligned we were. When I asked Sajia about how teens in Kabul were faring during the pandemic, she mentioned that they, like many American students, were stuck at home. So, I invited them to join This Teenage Life, a youth-driven podcasting program I had started over a year earlier that began meeting virtually due to the pandemic.

This Teenage Life began with a nonchalant bet I made with Nergish, a dear friend I met in the 2018 GATHER cohort. We were both obsessed with podcasts and I was looking for a new creative project. The bet was about if I could create a podcast episode for under $20 (maybe it was $30). Using my phone and free editing software, I eventually made this episode of a podcast for … no one. But it sounded surprisingly good!

Six months later, while working at a school in San Diego, I started podcasting again. This time it was with an inspiring group of teenagers. It started with one sophomore, then her friends, and several weeks later, close to 30 of us were sitting around one microphone having deep, meaningful discussions about issues relevant to our lives. We talked about issues such as self-doubt, love in high school, and when they realized their parents are human beings. We called it This Teenage Life. Almost two years since we began, we have many episodes which have been heard in 49 states across America and in over 70 countries.

For each episode, we edit the recordings of the conversations, compose and record music, make web art, and eventually publish the episode on our website and wherever podcasts are found.

Flash-forward to March. I had moved home to New York City where COVID-19 was spreading like wildfire. The school where I currently teach was closed, along with most high schools in the U.S. All stuck at home, the teens from This Teenage Life and I began having and recording conversations every other day. Throughout the pandemic, these conversations have been a social and creative lifeline which became even more powerful when I received an email from Daniel Moses, Director of Educator Programs for Seeds of Peace, which read: “Hi Sajia and Molly: I’m especially happy to be writing to introduce the two of you. This is an inspired connection. I strongly encourage the two of you to talk soon.”

So Sajia and I spoke, hit it off, and started figuring out how to connect the young people we work with. The schedule was tricky. To get the best internet connection, we met at what was 10 p.m. in New York, 7 p.m. in California, and 6:30 a.m. in Kabul. And while the connection wasn’t always reliable, it was good enough.

Our first conversation was trepidatious. The Internet was laggy and I felt nervous and awkward.

Everything changed when one young woman from Afghanistan talked about what she was watching during quarantine: Zootopia. Everyone—from the teenagers in San Diego to those in Kabul—was uproarious, “I LOVE ZOOTOPIA!” each teen was saying. The Americans and the Afghans all agreed—it was a fantastic movie and one with a beautiful message about resilience and how hard it can be to fight societal biases and change the status quo.

The idea of resilience really struck a chord. Each person shared stories of when they had challenged a societal norm or pushed to overcome something. A young woman in Kabul shared about how she fought her family to go to school and another young woman described her struggle to ride her bicycle in the streets. A teen in the U.S. described how she uses the limitations of not having much financial means to help motivate her. Another young woman talked about how she overcame her fear of swimming in the ocean.

From that point on, we met once per week talking about topics such as Tik Tok, beauty standards, and moments when we have “talked back” to adults. Those podcasting gatherings among the Afghans and Americans have since branched into virtual gatherings centered around poetry and creative writing, coding, and essay writing.

Twice per week now, at 10 p.m., fighting the urge to go to bed, I sign onto Zoom to meet with teens in California, New York, and Kabul. As soon as their faces appear, the tiredness is replaced by awe for this little wormhole, stretching across space, time, and conflict where teenagers from across the world come together to share parts of themselves and to, in the process, make something new and beautiful.

Molly is a 2012 Seeds of Peace Educator and 2018 GATHER Fellow. Sajia is currently in a Masters program at Stanford University. Learn more and listen to the new season of This Teenage Life ››

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.

An unlikely advocate
The Justice

Jan 19, 2010 / No Comments

Yousef Bashir promotes a message of peace in Israel despite his adverse circumstances

Yousef BashirLast year, when MJ Rosenberg ’72 attended a conference for the pro-peace, pro-Israel lobby group J Street in Washington, he expected to mingle among upper-middle-class politicians and peacemakers from the United States and diplomatic officials from the Middle East. Instead, Rosenberg spent time with someone who was neither an American nor a diplomatic official. Rosenberg forged a relationship with Yousef Bashir, a 20-year-old Palestinian who had been shot by an Israeli soldier at the age of 15 and was the only person at the conference from Gaza.

“[Bashir looked] like a prosperous, athletic Jewish kid; like any Brandeis student,” thought Rosenberg, who is a writer for Media Matters, “a web based, not-for-profit, progressive research and information center,” according to its Web site.

Bashir began his college career at Suffolk University but transferred to Northeastern University this semester to study International Affairs. Bashir had dreamed of going to Brandeis but was rejected this past semester when he applied as a transfer. Rosenberg immediately took interest in Bashir as Rosenberg and his son hold Brandeis degrees.

Bashir wanted to go to Brandeis to prove to fellow Palestinians that Jews and Arabs can learn together in peace.

“I wanted to be a Palestinian who graduated from a Jewish school to go back and help his own people,” Bashir says.

Rosenberg was amazed not only by Bashir’s story but also by his positive perspective on peace considering the violence that once surrounded him.

“You don’t realize how incredible and overwhelming it is to grow up in Gaza until you get out of it. I used to, and most of the kids would collect bullets for hobbies,” Bashir says.

Bashir was shot in 2005 when two United Nations officers came to visit his home. They had to obtain permits from several Israeli soldiers who were occupying Bashir’s home at the time in order to visit. The officers received a permit for only 10 minutes. Bashir and his late father sat with them in their front yard until the Israelis used a microphone to ask the officers to leave the house.

“My back was to the soldier that afternoon. I was wearing a soccer shirt; the number 19 was on the back, a player from Argentina. All of a sudden, I fell to the ground,” Bashir says.

Medical technicians took Bashir to a hospital in Tel Aviv. Bashir had suffered a shot to the spine. It was questionable whether he would ever have the ability to walk again.

Bashir has not been back to Gaza since the shooting.

“That’s when my whole life took a different direction,” he says.

Upon regaining his energy and his ability to walk, Bashir began to take interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and politics.

“[Before the shooting], all I really cared about was soccer. After I was shot, I grew up,” says Bashir. “Instead of being 15, I became 25.”

Still, Bashir forgives the soldier who shot him and those who occupied his home.

“That bullet was supposed to kill me, and it didn’t. I cannot deny that fact, but it gives me enough power to forgive them,” says Bashir.

This ability to forgive comes from Bashir’s father, who passed away this past September.

“I remember the soldiers banging my father’s head on the wall one night because he forgot to gather [us] into the room. [Afterward], he said [the soldiers] are all children. They don’t know any better. He said it wasn’t a big deal,” says Bashir.

Bashir’s was motivated by an interest in politics and his father’s message of peace to interview for a spot at a Seeds of Peace camp in Maine. Seeds of Peace is an organization that, according to the mission statement on its Web site, “[empowers youth] from regions of conflict with the leadership skills required to advance reconciliation and coexistence.”

Yousef Bashir with Bobbie GottschalkIn summer 2005, Bashir attended the camp with 12 other teenagers from Gaza.

The camp houses teens from all over the Middle East, specifically from areas of conflict. The camp also houses American students who are interested in learning about international conflict.

That summer Bashir lived in a cabin with Daniel Acheampong ’11. At the beginning of the summer, Acheampong said that he felt a lot of hatred among his peers in his cabin made up of Israelis, Jordanians, Palestinians and Americans. Bashir’s message of peace immediately transformed the feeling of animosity in his and Acheampong’s cabin.

“Speaking to Yousef and [hearing] his ability to forgive really inspired me,” says Acheampong.

Acheampong and Bashir are still close friends today and see each other often.

Bashir says, “He’s one of the first characters I met in the states. The first conversation I really had with him, [was about] our dreams and what would happen. We promised to be friends [after camp] because when you go back to Gaza, you usually don’t come back.”

After camp, Bashir decided to live with his aunt on the West Bank. “After one month, she kicked me out because I was in Seeds. [She] thought I was being brainwashed,” says Bashir. Not long after, Bashir enrolled in an American boarding school.

After a couple of years in the U.S., it was through Acheampong that Bashir discovered Brandeis. He had known of the University, but it was through his visits to Acheampong that the University caught his interest.

Acheampong says that he finds many similarities between Brandeis and Seeds of Peace, as they are both devoted to open dialogue and social justice.

Bashir feels, though, that anywhere in the U.S. is a forum for open dialogue when compared to his homeland.

“I had a hard time talking about my views [in Palestine], so I decided the U.S. was the best place [for me],” says Bashir.

With all the hardships Bashir has endured, he is hopeful for the future.

“Every hardship I’ve gone through has happened when I [was] young. It’s early. So I think when I’m older, my life will be better for it,” says Bashir.

In 10 years, Bashir sees himself investing in Gaza. “Schools, hospitals, anything. Hopefully, I have a career in Gaza somehow, but [I hope] in 10 years it will be different, and I hope the people in Gaza won’t even need me,” he says.

Even though Bashir is attending Northeastern and not Brandeis, he is grateful. “I’m a really lucky guy. There [are] few that [leave] Gaza. I appreciate what I have,” says Bashir. “Education is education; it has nothing to do with our disagreements.”

Read Tess Raser’s article at The Justice »

How far will one Seed go to educate Afghan’s youth? As far as it takes

Jul 20, 2022 / No Comments

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN | “At first, as the Taliban took over, I planned to leave at any cost,” said Zubair, a 2010 Afghan Seed, thinking back to the quick collapse of the Afghan government after the U.S. withdrawal last fall. “Then I thought, ‘If I leave and people like me leave, who will be here to serve our youth?’”

For most of his life, Zubair has dreamed of ensuring that all the children of Afghanistan have access to a quality education. It was an audacious hope given the limits posed by financial status, location, and gender. As the country’s future, and particularly the rights of women, grow murkier by the day, so do the chances of this hope ever becoming a reality. But some dreams—even those with significant risks—are worth holding on to.

“If we want to have change in Afghanistan, we have to educate this generation—it is the only way to combat extremism and bring peace and stability,” he said. “There are many great minds here and if we help them, they can contribute positive change to this country and to the world.”

At just 25, Zubair has already helped thousands of Afghan youth receive a quality education and continue their studies in college.

Inspired by his childhood experiences of being turned away from school when his family was unable to pay tuition, Zubair established an educational center in 2017 that offered classes and college test-prep for low or no cost to students in remote areas of the Nangarhar Province.

“We had around 70 boys in the beginning, most with extremist mindsets. We tried to teach them about new scientific inventions, share with them what was going on in the world, and tried to impart that it’s up to us all to become educated so we can make Afghanistan a better place,” he said. “They came in knowing nothing, and some of them actually went on to establish their own educational centers.”

He estimates that more than 10,000 students came through his center, but after a few years, he said threats from individuals claiming to be the Taliban and ISIS became too frequent, and too intense.

In 2020, he moved to Kabul and established Esmati Academy, where he offered free or low-cost education in math, sciences, literature, geography, and more to youth ages 14-20. Demand was so high, that even though he couldn’t afford chairs at one point, dozens of students still showed up for test prep, sitting outside on the ground.

Since the Taliban reclaimed control last fall, however, girls have not been allowed to attend in-person classes beyond the sixth grade. And while he does make online classes are available, the World Bank estimates that only about 13.5 percent of Afghans have Internet access, leaving the majority of students, especially girls in rural areas, with no options.

Undeterred, this spring Zubair applied for and received a $1,000 Seed Action Grant, a fund designated to help support Seeds of Peace alumni projects in need of emergency funds. His goal is to record lessons in each subject and grade level that will then be distributed on CDs and USB drives to students.

He also recently launched the Afghanistan Volunteer Teachers Movement, to which 400 university students applied to address a nationwide shortage of qualified teachers, and he is also distributing training videos to teachers in rural areas, many of whom are underqualified to teach their courses at international standards.

It’s an extremely laborious task, and one that could likely attract the ire of the Taliban, but with time and care, he thinks it is possible.
As he sees it, there really is no other choice.

“This is our country, and we have to fight for change,” he said. “I want every girl, every boy, to have access to education—not the kind that makes them extremists or robots. I want them to think for themselves, to have their dreams and go after them. I know it has risks but I want to do it.”

Sowing seeds of peace
Scarsdale Inquirer

Feb 10, 2012 / No Comments

Seeds of Peace international summer camp has multiple ties to Scarsdale

BY CARRIE GILPIN | When the students arrive at the Maine peace camp for their three-week stay, some think they won’t make it through the first night.  Will they be murdered in their sleep by a bunkmate whom they’ve never met but have been taught to fear and maybe despise? Grouped by conflict region, campers share a living space and participate in daily dialogue sessions. Israeli, Egyptian, Jordanian and Palestinian campers are grouped together. Similarly, campers from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan share bunks. The 14-, 15- and 16-year-olds spend three weeks together living, working, talking, cooking, playing sports, creating art and role-playing. At the end, they come out friends; and if not friends, well then, with at least a curiosity about each other and possibly a new perspective on their own identity.

Since 1993, when 46 Israelis, Palestinians and Egyptians came to Otisfield, Maine, for the first session of camp, Seeds of Peace has aimed to help young people from regions of conflict develop the leadership skills NEcessary to advance reconciliation and coexistence. Today, there are more than 4,600 students from the Middle East, South Asia, Cyprus, the Balkans, and the United States who have been a part of the program. Scarsdale’s connections to the organization run long and deep, and include the founder of the camp, John Wallach, as well as campers, counselors, volunteers and benefactors.

The summer camp is the core of a growing international program that offers year-round workshops, conferences and adult educators programs worldwide, said Seeds of Peace educator and Scarsdale resident Margery Arsham. Arsham and her husband Jim have had a summer home in Maine near the camp for more than 30 years, and she organizes dinners for Seeds of Peace adult chaperones with Maine locals each summer. Arsham’s son Andy, a 1991 SHS A-School graduate, worked many summers for the camp between 1995 and 2004 and met his wife, Sonja, at the camp.

“Each Maine host invites two adults, one Palestinian and one Israeli, or one Indian and one Pakistani, for instance, for dinner on the first Saturday night after they arrive. Some of these people are still friends today and have traveled to visit each other in their home countries years later,” Arsham said.

Arsham said the adult chaperones, called “delegation leaders,” also tour the local lumber mill and the local school while in Maine, and reciprocate with a dinner at the camp for their local hosts at the end of the camp session, cooking their own country’s dishes.

Otisfield native contractor Jared Damon has hosted Seeds of Peace adults for the last three summers. He and his wife Beth cook an American meal for their Seeds of Peace guests. “Very simply, we talk about our day-to-day lives in our countries, and our customs, our similarities and our differences,” said Damon. “We talk about life. Margery sets all this up, and since there are dietary restrictions, she suggests that chicken is always safe, so we cook chicken.” Damon drives the three miles to the camp to pick up his guests, and returns them after dinner at his home. “Usually it is slow to get going, but we start talking and then it is hard to get them back by the 10 p.m. curfew.”

Both Damon and Arsham say that some local Maine residents worry about the presence of the camp in their town, for security purposes, and that the community outreach has been beneficial for everyone.

Seeds of Peace is a nonpolitical secular, not-for-profit organization funded by individuals, foundations and corporations. The nongovernmental organization has received support from many world leaders, including Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, former Israeli Prime Ministers Ehud Barak, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin, the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the late King Hussein and Queen Noor of Jordan, and King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan.

Seeds of Peace’s mission is to work toward people of conflict developing lasting empathy, respect and confidence toward one another, while equipping future leaders with the communication and negotiation skills necessary to advance peace. The organization receives nearly 8,000 application for approximately 400 camper spots each year.

Applicants must demonstrate proficiency in English and leadership skills, as well as motivation based on interviews and written essays. Some first-time campers are chosen by the ministries of education in their countries. Adult delegation leaders accompany students from their countries to the camp, and go through their own dialogue sessions. Each day, campers meet with professional facilitators and delve into the hardest issues, in the process challenging inherent stereotypes and prejudices. Trust and understanding is fostered through dialogue that encourages participants to empathize, communicate effectively and demonstrate respect, regardless of opinion. A camper’s schedule includes sports and creative activities, swimming and an all-camp activity.

When camp ends, the “seeds” have been planted to pursue peace and dialogue. There are follow-up activities back home, and campers participate in advanced dialogue sessions, school presentations, cross cultural exchanges, workshops and seminars and a campers magazine, “The Olive Branch.”

The program is effective, according to former counselor Robert Tessler, who worked as an intern in the Seeds of Peace New York City headquarters before working two stints as a counselor. The 1999 Scarsdale High School graduate said the experience “sucks you into a family. It isn’t perfect but it is very special. It exposes you to a different way of thinking. I have met remarkable people. It has been the most important experience of my life.”

Tessler graduated from New York University with a degree in music theory and composition, and then decided on the advice of his older brother to see a bit of the world. He moved to Cairo, studied Arabic and then elected to complete post-baccalaureate work before going to medical school instead of pursuing a graduate degree in policy work. He is currently a third-year medical student at UCSF and speaks highly of the camp, its mission and the people associated with it.

Tessler said the teens have little to no access to each other at home, and at camp they are in a peaceful spot far from the pressures they leave behind.

“These are not political figures at all. They are adolescents first. They are 13 or 14, most of them, and their hormones are raging, and they are more worried about the way their hair is or if they have the right jeans on than anything else. It diffuses a little of the ‘we have a deep seated hatred of each other’ part. It is up to us, to the counselors, to take that energy and turn it into dialogue. To spread it out over the three weeks. It isn’t like they are all holding hands at the end of it–the goal is really to just get them to be a bit curious about somebody they have heard about but haven’t met yet. And this happens more often than not.”

The most successful counselors are people who have a real diversity of experience, according to Tessler. “The kids don’t care how many books you have read on political theory. But if you can take a good jump shot, or if you can play soccer, kids love that. That’s what these kids want. Seeds of Peace looks for good folks, and they get them. Many of them are in college studying social justice or have worked with NGOs before,” Tessler said.

Seeds of Peace has many opportunities for advanced diplomacy work. One such offshoot is the recently formed Seas of Peace, a summer sailing session for Israeli and Palestinian campers who have already attended Seeds of Peace camp and completed the follow-up yearlong activities. Campers spend three to six hours per day in facilitated discussions. In the first 10 days of camp, they learn to sail small boats in Portland Harbor, and work at Catherine’s Cupboard, a food work at Catherine’s Cupboard, a food pantry run by St. Joseph’s College. Then, they join a professional sailing crew on the 110-foot schooner “Spirit of Massachusetts,” and sail to New York City, where they meet with United Nations officials before sailing back to Boston.

“The curriculum, developed by Carrie O’Neil and Tim O’Brien, is based heavily on leadership models developed at Harvard university,” said co-founder of Seas of Peace David Nutt. “The course provides the Seeds concrete skills relevant to their lives at home as well as the opportunity to discuss the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Many of those involved in Seeds of Peace say the experience is life changing.

“On the last day, there are usually tears. It is incredibly emotional, and is the highest of the high. There is this special bond,” said Tessler. “Adolescence is a perfect time for this. Identity, figuring out who they are, is such a big part of their lives. These kids have historical baggage and the camp brings them to a peaceful place far away from home. We don’t want them to lose that when they return. Their identity is wrapped up in how they think of someone else so when they get here we start small. We ask them about the favorite thing in their room, and we build on that. It’s very powerful, and the kids are super courageous going through it.”

Locally, Scarsdalians have worked in many ways to support the organization. Seeds of Peace has two fundraising events in New York City each year, and former Scarsdalians Helen (SHS class of 1967) and Eric Rosenberg (SHS class of 1966) have been to both. “They are both wonderful events,” said Helen. “The auction, called ‘The Peace Market,’ is a more informal event for younger supporters, and the gala is more formal. Former “seeds” speak at the gala and talk about what they have done with their lives since they became involved,” said Helen, whose mother still lives in town. The Rosenbergs raised both their children in Scarsdale: Karen graduated in 1995 and Stuart in 1998.

“We have also been to see the Seeds of Peace camp and saw the end-of-season Color Games–they don’t call it Color Wars. It is incredibly moving and we were so impressed with what they do and how they do it,” she said.

Arsham said many of her Jewish friends in New York donate money to the organization, and if they do not, they still support its mission “and want it to work.”

Scarsdale High School runs an Interfaith Awareness Club that promotes Seeds of Peace among other organizations. “We very informally get together, even if it is just a few people at Starbucks, to spread awareness of different religious groups,” said club president Harrison Shapiro, a senior.

The club set up a table at parent-teacher conferences in the fall and sold baked goods to raise money for Seeds of Peace and other organizations. Shapiro said he knows of no Scarsdale student who is currently a camper.

For more information on Seeds of Peace visit www.seedsofpeace.org and www.facebook.com/SeedsofPeace. For information on Seas of Peace visit www.facebook.com/seasofpeace/.

Seeds of Peace founder a Scarsdale native

Scarsdale native John Wallach, who died in 2002 at age 59, founded the peace camp Seeds of Peace in 1993 to bring together teenagers from Middle Eastern countries who would normally never meet or talk with each other back at home.

The teenage boys and girls attend the camp in Otisfield, Maine, for three-week sessions, living together in bunks, sharing meals, playing sports and engaging in stereotyping-breaking and role playing group sessions about their political conflicts and their lives.

Wallach graduated from Scarsdale High School in 1960. In 1968, four years after graduating from Middlebury College, he became foreign editor of Hearst Newspapers. An expert on Arafat and the Middle East, he broke the story of the Iran-Contra scandal, and was frequently a panelist on “Meet the Press,” “Washington Week in Review,” “Fox News” and CNN.

Wallach also authored four books, including “Arafat in the Eyes of the Beholder” and “Still Small Voices,” the latter co-authored with his wife, Janet. In 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev awarded him the highest civilian honor in the USSR, the Medal of Friendship. Wallach received the National Press Club’s highest honor, the Edwin Hood Award. He was also made an honorary doctor of human letters by Middlebury College.

In 1993, in the wake of the first bombing of the World Trade Center, Wallach gave up journalism and decided to follow a dream, the creation of a summer camp at which Arab and Israeli children live, play and learn together. Initially, 50 young people participated in the program, which included daily conflict-resolution sessions run by professional Arab, Israeli and American facilitators. The program, Seeds of Peace, quickly earned an international reputation. It also expanded to include year-round activities.

“The Enemy Has a Face,” written by Wallach, captures the joys and the challenges of Seeds of Peace.

Wallach was named a distinguished alumnus of SHS in 2005.

Pistons rookies Brandon Knight, Kyle Singler to take part in Play for Peace Program
Detroit Free Press

Jul 9, 2011 / No Comments

BY VINCE ELLIS | Pistons draft picks Brandon Knight and Kyle Singler are among NBA players taking part in the Play for Peace Program at the Seeds of Peace International Camp in Otisfield, Maine.

The athletes conducted basketball clinics for nearly 200 campers from across the Middle East and South Asia, providing teens from regions of conflict a chance to learn the values of teamwork and cooperation.

“The reason I’m doing it is for the experience,” said Singler, a second-round pick from Duke. “I thought it would be great to get a different perspective of how things are elsewhere.”

This is the 10th year that agent Arn Tellem has organized Play for Peace, which runs for about three weeks. The players will participate through the weekend. Singler and Knight are clients of Tellem.

“As challenging times continue throughout the Middle East and South Asia, it is extremely beneficial to bring together athletes of diverse backgrounds to help teach the lessons of understanding and coexistence to these young campers,” Tellem said in a news release.

Other players included the Celtics’ Brian Scalabrine, who is making his ninth appearance, Jordan Farmar of the New Jersey Nets and DeAndre Jordan of the L.A. Clippers. Knight and Singler were joined by fellow NBA newcomer Jordan Hamilton of the Denver Nuggets.

Since 1993, Seeds of Peace has graduated nearly 5,000 teenagers from five conflict regions from its leadership program.

“It’s just a validation,” Knight said. “Although they are going through some tough times at home it shows them there are some good people out there.”

For more information on the camp, go to www.seedsofpeace.org.

The Olive Branch Teacher’s Guides: New resources for educators now online

Oct 20, 2009 / No Comments

Olive Branch Teacher's GuideJERUSALEM | This new publication from Seeds of Peace is a resource for classroom educators who actively promote mutual respect, cross-cultural understanding, communication, civic engagement, leadership and peace.

The work of Seeds of Peace requires educators who can support the development of young leaders. These Teacher’s Guidesprovide the tools, resources, lesson plans, best practices and inspiration from Seeds of Peace educators, who offer their experiences as pathways to peace.

In partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), we present the Winter 2009 Teacher’s Guide.

Read more issues of The Olive Branch Teacher’s Guide »
Learn about Seeds of Peace Educators Programs »

Seeds of Peace Youth Leadership Program Wins Noyce Award
The Free Press (Maine)

Nov 28, 2010 / No Comments

Seeds of Peace is the winner of the Maine Community Foundation’s (MaineCF) 2010 Noyce Award for Nonprofit Excellence. The organization is being honored for its Maine Seeds Youth Leadership Program. The award includes an unrestricted $10,000 grant.

The Maine Seeds Youth Leadership Program was started by Tim Wilson, special advisor to Seeds of Peace. The program seeks to develop the leadership capabilities of youth—the “Seeds”—focusing on communication and critical thinking skills. Participants are teenagers ages 14 to 17, from all 16 counties in Maine, many of them drawn from low-income families and immigrant communities.

“The 2010 Noyce Award selection committee was particularly impressed with Seeds of Peace’s efforts to draw participants from low-income and racially diverse populations in all 16 counties,” says Meredith Jones, MaineCF president and CEO. “We salute Seeds of Peace for bringing its leadership training to youth all across Maine.”

The focus of this year’s Noyce Award was “Strengthening Community by Building Leadership.” Special consideration was given to programs that serve individuals and groups typically underrepresented. MaineCF received 19 nominations for the 2010 award.

The Noyce Award for Nonprofit Excellence honors philanthropist Elizabeth Noyce (1930-1996), who was dedicated to supporting the health and development of Maine’s nonprofits. Past Noyce Award winners include the Sunrise County Economic Council, Franklin County Community College Network, Maine Migrant Health Program, and Coastal Enterprises, Inc.

Read the article at The Free Press (Maine) »

11th Anniversary Benefit Dinner features Seeds

Apr 29, 2003 / No Comments

Seeds of Peace held its eleventh anniversary benefit on April 28, 2003, at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center.

By popular demand, we have been asked to post the speeches made by our Seeds of Peace alumni from the Middle East, India and Pakistan.

Tulsi, Indian

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

Ladies and gentlemen, the world is imperfect and its people are blind to the basic principles of humanity and moral issues. Revenge, is the repercussion of power misused.

In the blink of an eye, I have seen the world fall through the abysmal pits of carnage, hatred, distrust and inequality. The world is a stage to unrest from WW1 and WW2 right through to the War against Terrorism and against Iraq, while peace, peace is just waiting in the wings.

Honestly, I had never actually met a Pakistani before, someone from the ‘other side’. All I saw of them were the 12 members of their cricket team who, God forbid, I wished India would beat every time they played!

I only had a stereotypical image of what they looked like. I imagined them either as soldiers at the border, armed, eagerly awaiting a war signal, or as strangers hidden behind veils (burkhas) – clad in black, conservative, extremist. But I was wrong and in ways I don’t understand, I have grown. I have learnt more than what a lifetime of scientific knowledge could teach me. I have learnt to discover and reject my vulnerability. I have learnt to suppress raw instincts. I have learnt, I have learnt to think before I label and segment people into human categories.

Today, I watch most of the world go mad, but I remain calm and optimistic.

The truth is, you can never really tell with life. You cannot hope to predict tomorrow and I am aware of that. What you can do, however, is prepare for it today. That is why I am standing here in front of you, so far away from home…to show you that we have already started preparing for the future.

During Camp, which was filled with a lot of introspection and self-reflection, I came to the conclusion that even though initially Camp seemed like the epitome of perfection, it wasn’t just fun and games and fantastic people. Delving deeper into what camp was really all about, I unearthed the fact that sometimes it was a downright painful experience. There were stories and arguments and all sorts of emotions at stake.

A bit like when you go shopping; the dress looks gorgeous from the brightly lit window, but when you go inside, its not really so glamorous. That camp. That summer of 2001, gave the seeds of ambition and hope within me, the right to germinate. That summer of 2001 taught me that the enemy had a face.

In retrospect, for a fleeting moment I thought I was looking at the world through the compound eyes of a house-fly, suffering from myopia. I realized that the story which I had was different from what a Pakistani had to tell me. But when it comes down to the truth, it is only the perspectives in totality which paint a comprehensive picture.

It wasn’t easy going home and spreading the Seeds of Peace message. But now I can assure you that there isn’t a single school in Bombay which doesn’t know about this organization.

I realized that we are merely puppets of the media. This has resulted in a gap. Larger than the physical gap that divides the two countries, it has led to a gap between understanding and empathy.

Today I stand before you as a proud Indian. Amal, a proud Pakistani. Yet, we have the same Seed of Peace sowed in our different soils. On March 13th, 1993, John Wallach had a dream to try to change this fragmented globe into a common brotherhood.

Today, on April 28th, 2003, over 2000 of us Seeds share that one man’s dream.

Amal, Pakistani

It is perhaps the greatest human desire to want to hold on to freedom and peace of mind and body. It is perhaps the highest degree of passion, which would prompt even a dying man to call out for peace. It is the most painful demand of the public and the utmost act of humanity to fulfill it.

The greatest realization I gained from Seeds of Peace was the fact that truth is solely a matter of perception played on by a theatre of evil we like to call history. My truth, my reality is not going to be an Indian’s truth … but I learnt to hear that truth, to take it in, to hold on to it and then defend it with my own. Seeds of Peace did not teach me to purge myself of negative emotion. It taught me the practical side to peace and I taught myself the art to perceive it that way.

The enemy had a face, a faith, a name and an identity.

Illusions built on the basis of bias came crumbling down and I came to see beyond what others had chosen to show to me and what others had thought I should be told. I matured, from a dreamer to a realist, from a child to a woman. I was allowed, for the first time, to embrace my own capability to think and question. It was as if I was allowed wings. Rusty wings of the mind given permission to freedom. I didn’t know I was trapped till I was actually flying. Actually doubting and questioning. And that is exactly what I did do.

I got back home and I questioned Seeds of Peace. I wondered whether the environment was too artificially created, I wondered whether it wasn’t just inevitable that kids staying by beautiful bunks by the lake would become friends. And I found my answer in the simplest analogies life has to offer. Like when you’re learning how to swim; you wear your floaters and these rubber tires around your waist and you hold on to the handles at the edges of that little synthetic pool to keep from slipping. But then, some time later you’re in the open see, with the wild, natural waves … but you know what it is you have to do and exactly how you have to do it.

That is what Seeds of Peace does to young people. Young people who go back home, have to deal with the ugliest faces of reality to survive as men and women of faith. leaders and teachers of substance. Camp is not a fool’s paradise; it is not the idealist’s greatest fantasy. I have sat and discussed wars and partition and history with Tulsi for hours, gone on and on arguing about details till I finally saw that I have to move beyond textbooks to search for solid solutions. Humanity can exist … humanity wants to exist if only I let it.

If tomorrow my child turns to me and tells me that war is a solution, it will be my fault. If tomorrow the world is still caught in this rat race of hate and injustice, it will be my fault. And if tomorrow another mother weeps on the unmarked grave of an innocent son, it will be my fault and I refuse to submit to that fate and that blame over and over and over again. I have been given a chance to change lives and there is no way I am throwing that away.

This journey has started, and now more than ever before it needs to continue. As long as I am alive, as long as there is passion and hope within me I will continue that journey. It is not a “favor” or an “act of morality.” It is simply demanded of me. Seeds of Peace is more than a summer camp in Maine. It enters your blood. It literally flows through your veins till all that remains is you and your obsession and everything else is forgotten.

I believe there is a reason in being born. There is a reason behind living, dying, breathing … and I am so happy I have found mine.

Ma’ayan, Israeli

I never thought terrible things can happen to me. I was the kind of person who thought that things like that can only happen to other people, to other families. Unfortunately, I was proved wrong.

I remember it was a few minutes after 6 o’clock at evening, I was watching TV, while my younger and only brother played with his friend in the other room. I remember thinking to myself how great it is I can finally sit down and do nothing, after studying so hard for the last couple of weeks, when suddenly, a tremendous explosion brutally cut my thoughts, and tore the silence apart. My building trembled so hard I thought it’ll brake down, and all the windows shattered, leaving with no protection from the outside. There was no mistake, I knew exactly what had happened. A bombing had occurred, right outside my house. I stood up, and started crying. I ran over to my brother and his friend, and was relieved to see they were both alright, but my emotions were still rising up inside of me. Even now, at this very moment, I can still hear the people screaming outside my window, the sound of the sirens, the TV reporting what has happened, and the voices inside my head trying to calm me down. I still remember approaching the window and seeing the exact same horrifying sites the TV was showing, while praying and wishing no one I know was there.

I always knew that sooner or later, something like this is bound to happen, since my house is across the street from the mall, where many people spend their time. The thoughts about how easily I, my brother or someone I know could have been there, haunt me to this very day. It was the first time, in my whole life, I felt so close, so physically and emotionally close to death.

Unfortunately, this kind of scene, is not a unique one in my country. Over the last 54 years Israel has existed, and especially throughout these last three years of the Intifada, my country and my people have endured hundreds of bombing attacks, like the one outside my house, and have known a great deal of loss.

As tragic as it may sound, loosing people has became an everyday thing for us, and we have been forced to accustom ourselves to living with death. This situation, in which fear, insecurity and hate are an inseparable part of daily life, has cast shadows over many Israeli’s hope, optimism, and faith in peace.
It took me hours after the bombing to pull myself together. I was feeling scared, angry, and mostly shocked, and I think that for one second there, I felt the absolute hopelessness Israelis feel, after being through a frightening experience like the one I’ve been through. But my experience was somewhat different, because of all the love and support I received from my Palestinian friends who called to check I was OK. It was those phone calls, those sweet words of caring, that gave me the strength not to surrender to feelings of revenge and despair, and convinced me even more than before I do not want that kind of a future for my children, or anybody’s children.

To be honest with you, I do not want peace on the paper. I want peace between people. I want trust, understanding, compassion and a feeling of security. I want little babies to be born to a world where they are taught to love, and not to hate. I don’t mislead myself by thinking non-seeds don’t want the same. But I do know that in the current situation, in which people don’t have many choices but the obvious choice of despair and hate, Seeds of Peace allows me, allows us to be true to ourselves, to what we believe in, and work for it.

That is why Tarek and I have been leading co-existence sessions between Palestinians and Israelis.

That is why I brought my best friend to a Seeds of Peace meeting, so she’ll see in her own eyes that Arabs are not as bad, as she thought the were.

That is why I spoke to students, to tell them about our organization, and to let them see there is another side to the reality they grew up with.

And that is why, ladies and gentleman, I stand here in front of you tonight, three years after my first summer in Seeds of Peace, to tell you my story, and to tell the world there is another way. Seeds of Peace has opened the door for me to a better future, and I just hope I will be able to do the same, for others.

Mohamad, Palestinian

Let me tell you a story. It was the middle of August of 2002. No Palestinians were allowed in Israel, when I lost any hope of being given a student visa to come to the United States and get advantage of the scholarship that I was awarded. After about a month of trying to get a permission to go from the Gaza Strip, where I lived, to Tel-Aviv where I had to be interviewed for my visa in the American Embassy there. I got a phone call from my American Seeds of Peace counselor from Jerusalem. “Mohammed” she said with a tone of excitement “We got you a VIP permission to enter Israel to the American Embassy for your interview”.

Well, two days later, I was in the heart of Tel-Aviv. I was probably the only Palestinian in Israel that day. When we got to the American Embassy there, we found out that we had to stay in a long line of Israelis waiting to be interviewed. We had to line up for about two hours. I was standing there, talking to my Seeds of Peace counselor who came with me, in English, when a young Israeli man stepped back on my foot. “Tslecha” he said. I knew very well that that word means “Excuse me” in Hebrew, but never I knew how to respond. I asked my American friend, but she didn’t know either. So, he thought that I was American. He was a nice guy, almost in my age. We kept chatting and joking for about half an hour in English. I didn’t mention that I was Palestinian and he didn’t ask. “Oh, Mohammed, when do you have to be back to Gaza?” my American counselor asked.

At that moment, I can tell that that guy was extremely shocked. It was like a giant iron door that was “boom” suddenly separating us. The guy started to avoid talking with us. he moved his spot in the line further away. A minute later, my friend decided to go to the ladies room leaving me with her back bag. That guy was staring at me, a Palestinian young man from the Gaza Strip, in the American Embassy, in Tel-Aviv, with a huge back bag. I could tell you how scared that guy was. He left the whole Embassy right away. I have never ever seen that guy after that moment.

I was asking myself “why, why was that guy so terrified that he even missed his interview? Did he think that all the Palestinians were suicide bombers? That I was going to blow myself up there and kill him?” Unfortunately, that what happens when we let the media control our minds and thoughts.

I had two advantages that that young man didn’t have. Firstly, I knew very well that he was Israeli but he never knew that I was Palestinian during our conversation. Look how different his reactions were before and after discovering my identity. His human nature attracted him to enjoy a conversation with me, and I didn’t really care who he was. All I knew about him was that he was a young man from Israel with whom I can enjoy a conversation.

The other advantage was that I am a seed of peace, and he was just a random young man living in the region. I wonder how different that guy’s attitude would have been if he was a seed of peace, just like me. He would have realized that it is possible to have a Palestinian friend. He would have hoped that the line was much longer so that he can enjoy a longer conversation with me. He would have realized that most of the Palestinians are as affable as he was. Don’t blame him, I don’t blame him for what he did, I just feel sad for him. He just wasn’t given the opportunity, the atmosphere where he can develop independent thoughts and understanding of the logical reality and get rid of his close-mindedness and stereotypes that he has grown up with.

He didn’t have the ability to question those stereotypes even after an enjoyable half-hour conversation between us. He wasn’t taught how to understand people’s gestures and feelings, he couldn’t read their thoughts, couldn’t make a wise judgment and without saying it, he categorized me as “ a terrorist”. Simply, that was the big difference between us, a seeds of peace versus a typical teenager living in the region.

When we are thoughtless in our acts and our silences to different people, we stifle the ability to grow and connect with them … like that young man did that August day. More than anything else, Seeds of Peace enhances our pride in being who we are: thinking adults and compassionate human beings.

Tarek, Arab-Israeli

“Do you really have Jewish friends”? That was the reaction of my classmate to the stories I brought home from Seeds of Peace camp three years ago. Although we are citizens of Israel, and the closest neighbor to my Arab village “Jatt” is a Jewish kibbutz, no one in my school had ever made close connections with any Israeli Jews. In fact they didn’t even imagine it was possible, until they met my friends from seeds of peace.

My classmates and I are Palestinian citizens of Israel. We are loyal to our country, Israel, and at the same time to our Palestinian tradition and identity. Due to this, we are a double minority, often viewed with suspicion by both sides of the conflict, and faced with a crisis of determining who we really are. But at Seeds of Peace, I spoke with both Palestinians and Israeli Jews as an equal human being. That gave me the chance to build my own identity and to make friendships with people on both sides who understood and respected me for who I am.

Equality, understanding and friendship between Jews and Arabs are things my classmates, and unfortunately most of the more than 1 million Palestinian citizens of Israel, have never experienced. Showing my community this vision of a better reality was my mission. But my stories from seeds of peace weren’t enough – or maybe they were too much – for my classmates to believe. They needed to see what I had to tell with their own eyes in order to believe my Jewish friends are real, and our honest friendship is true.

The easy part was proving my friends are real, I organized a meeting between my skeptical classmates and Jewish friends – like Ma’ayan – from Seeds of Peace. We had long conversations about all of the buried topics my classmates have always wanted to discuss with the other side. The cult was that both sides were surprised, on the one hand, the Jewish Seeds were confused when they found out that the four male representatives of my classmates were all called with the so well known name “Mohammed”. On the other hand, my classmates left that meeting telling me, “Some of those Jewish friends of those Jewish friends of yours understood us better than Arabs do.” This sentence made me realize Seeds of peace and I made the change years of government negotiations never could.

More than a year afterwards, it became clear not only that my Jewish friends are real, but that they are real friends.

On January 30th, 2002, my beloved father, Dr. Dawood Arow, was killed by a hit-and-run driver. He was crossing the street to buy flowers for our family. I was so shocked, I didn’t call anyone, I didn’t talk to anyone. My father was one of the first doctors in my village, and he was the kind of doctor who cared deeply for his patients, and knew them all as individuals. It did not surprise me to see thousands of them gathered in my village for his funeral. What did shock me, the only good shock in this time of tragedy for my family, was seeing my friends from seeds of peace, Jewish and Arabs, standing there among the mourning crowd. They didn’t just come that day either – my friends from seeds of peace came to visit my family and console us throughout the whole period of mourning we had. Them being there showed everyone and especially me, they are the kind of people, the kind of friends, who cared for me and didn’t stand a side watching when I faced my hardest times.

Since then, Seeds of Peace means being there for friends at the hardest times. A few months ago, a Jewish friend of mine from Haifa named Liav, lost her father suddenly and unexpectedly. You can be sure that I was there at the funeral, and at her home during the days of the shiv’ah mourning ritual. I believe that Liav, her family and friends will always remember that, and know that this Arab friend is for real, and will be by her side when it matters most, just as my friends were there for me.

Bios of the Seeds of Peace alumni

Tulsi is a 16-year-old Indian from Bombay who was part of the first delegation to Seeds of Peace from Southeast Asia in the summer of 2001. She is currently in her first year of secondary school in the scientific stream. Tulsi has continued to be active in Seeds of Peace upon returning home. She recently wrote an article about her experience at camp published on a news website, and took part in the first Seeds of Peace Press Conference in India. She has also kept in touch with both her Indian and Pakistani friends via video projects and email communication.

Amal is a 17-year old high school student from Lahore, Pakistan. Amal attended Seeds Of Peace in 2001 as part of the first Pakistani Delegation. Since returning home, she has been in constant touch with her fellow Seeds through the internet and home visits. Amal attended the Seeds of Peace Conference on Uprooting Hatred and Terror in November 2001, and was involved in the India-Pakistan video exchange project. Apart from attending local conferences and peace gatherings, she has spoken actively about Seeds Of Peace at a number of large meetings, including a very well attended inter-faith church gathering in Lahore. She directed an award-winning documentary on violence against women, and has published her own anthology of poetry.

Ma’ayan is a 17-year old Israeli high school senior from the city of Kfar Saba in Israel. She first attended Seeds of Peace in the summer of 2000 and returned in the summers of 2001 and 2002. She is involved in the Advanced Coexistence program at the Seeds of Peace Center in Jerusalem, which has led to numerous presentations promoting coexistence at Jewish and Arab schools around Israel. Currently, she is working with as a “Coexistence Intern” helping design programs and learning the skills of facilitating Arab-Jewish dialogue.

Mohamad is a 17-year old Palestinian from Gaza City. He attended elementary and middle school while living in Gaza but through the Seeds of Peace Education Program, received a scholarship to finish his high school education at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts. Currently, Mohamad is a senior at Deerfield Academy and will be graduating this spring and next year plans to attend college in the US. Mohamad first attended the Seeds of Peace Camp during session one of 2000. Since then, he has been an active participant in many Seeds of Peace activities, presentations and follow-up programs.

Tarek is a 17-year old high school senior from the Arab village of Jatt, in Israel. He first attended Seeds of Peace in the summer of 2000 and was selected to return as a Peer Support camper in the summers of 2001 and 2002. Tarek participated in the November 2001 Seeds of Peace Conference on Uprooting Hatred and Terror in New York City and has been featured in the media including an appearance on MSNBC last summer. He completed the Advanced Coexistence program of biweekly Arab-Jewish dialogue meetings at the Seeds of Peace Center in Jerusalem, and is now working as a “Coexistence Intern” in this year’s program.