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90 volunteers from Toll Brothers Inc. get Seeds of Peace Camp up and running

May 30, 2009 / No Comments

OTISFIELD, MAINE | On Saturday, May 30, over 90 dedicated volunteers from the New England Division of Toll Brothers Inc. helped prepare the Seeds of Peace Camp for its 17th summer season.

This is the eleventh consecutive year that Toll Brothers Inc. employees, vendors, sub-contractors, friends and family from all over the northeast have headed to Maine with their power tools, paint brushes, rakes and shovels, to prepare the camp for the arrival of over 300 young people from around the world.  Major projects included camp clean-up, landscaping, carpentry, painting, plumbing, continued work on the field house, and re-siding the hockey court.

“Especially during these difficult economic times, the commitment of these generous volunteers is incredibly valuable to us.” said Leslie Lewin, the Director of Camp. “We are so grateful to the Toll Brothers community for their continued support of our program; their hard work this weekend will have a lasting impact on our facility and thus our camp program and the important work our Seeds participants undertake this summer.”

Bob Toll, Chairman and CEO of Toll Brothers Inc. and a member of the Board of Directors at Seeds of Peace said: “It’s our honor and joy to be able to help ready the camp for the outstanding program that will help to bring peace to the Middle East.”

Toll Brothers is the nation’s premier builder of luxury homes and is currently building in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. Toll Brothers, Inc., is the successor to three generations of home builders and is a publicly owned company whose stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:TOL).
 
EVENT PHOTOS

John Legend headlines Journey Through the Peace Market Seeds of Peace benefit

Jan 19, 2006 / No Comments

Event will transport guests to the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia

NEW YORK | Seeds of Peace is making its annual event hosted by its Young Leadership Committee bigger and better this year. A Journey Through the Peace Market (formerly the Bid for Peace Celebrity Auction) on Thursday, February 16, 2006, will transport guests to the markets of the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia.

This “experience” event, at Skylight, will envelop guests into The Peace Market where they will be surrounded by sounds, smells, tastes, and sights from the Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian, Moroccan, Afghan, Indian and Pakistani cultures.

Eight-time Grammy nominee John Legend will perform live as will Smadar Levi, who sings in Hebrew and Arabic with Israeli, Palestinian, Lebanese and Turkish musicians. The event will also include a world-music DJ, and graduates from the Seeds of Peace program will speak.

Honorary Host Committee members lending their support for the evening include:

  • Christine Baranski
  • Bobbie Cannavale
  • Chevy Chase
  • Billy Crudup
  • Rocco DiSpirito
  • Kazem El Saher
  • Eve Ensler
  • Tovah Feldshuh
  • Sally Field
  • Janeane Garofalo
  • Rashida Jones
  • Cheb Khaled
  • Bebe Neuwirth
  • Michael Nouri
  • Zac Posen
  • Colin Quinn
  • Susan Sarandon
  • Philip Seymour Hoffman
  • Elisabeth Shue
  • Andrew Shue
  • Sarah Silverman
  • Sam Waterston
  • Scott Wolf
  • Gideon Yago

In addition to the musical performances and celebrity guests from television, film and sports, the event will feature a live auction with luxurious getaways to the Middle East, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities with celebrities and political dignitaries, walk-on roles to hit television shows and tickets to movie premieres, and private cooking lessons with gourmet chefs.

Other unique event details include a hookah tent, tea salon, backgammon room, henna artists, and belly dancers. VIP packages start at $2,500; individual VIP tickets are $750. Both allow entrance to the VIP Reception (doors open at 6:30 p.m.) which includes attendance by Ambassadors, political dignitaries, and celebrities. Individual tickets for the main event (doors open at 7 p.m.) start at $250. The program will begin at 8:30 p.m.

Since 1993, Seeds of Peace has graduated over 3,000 teenagers from four conflict regions from its internationally recognized leadership program. Through its Camp in Maine, its Center for Coexistence in Jerusalem, international youth conferences, regional workshops, educational opportunities, and adult educator program, Seeds of Peace participants develop empathy, mutual respect, and self-confidence as well as leadership, communication and negotiation skills—all critical components necessary for peaceful coexistence.

Skylight is located at 275 Hudson in Soho (between Dominick and Spring Streets).

Game Changers brings 60 Seeds to Ireland to explore conflict transformation

Jul 15, 2012 / 3 Comments

DUBLIN | This July, approximately 60 Seeds from the Middle East, South Asia, and the United States are coming together in Ireland to learn about past approaches to international conflicts, with an emphasis on peace-building processes between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland.

While focusing on the people, events, and ideas that lead to a “game-change” in situations of conflict and war, delegates at the week-long international conference consider practical ways to apply the lessons they are learning to their own regions. The program represents the first collaboration between the Irish American Peace Foundation and Seeds of Peace.

Daily Schedule

Arrival at Headfort School | July 10

After many hours of travel—many of our journeys were over 24 hours—and a few glitches, we all made it safely to Headfort School, our host institution in the beautiful countryside of the Republic of Ireland where we are to spend most of our time. The family estate, built in 1770, was transformed into a private boarding school in 1949. A small and welcoming staff team is taking good care of us, and Graduate Seed and counselor Ghassan has been keeping everyone energized and entertained with different team-building activities throughout the day.

Exploring conflict past and present | July 11-12

The first full day of “Game Changers” started with introductory remarks from former Irish Minister of Education and European Commissioner Richard Burke, who was kind enough to deliver a few words of welcome and provide us with an overview of Irish history and identity, setting the context for the rest of our week: an exploration of the lessons of past peace processes and a consideration of practical steps that could move Seeds’ communities toward peace.

The 60 participating Seeds, who hail from the Middle East, South Asia, and the United States, continued the morning with an opportunity to learn about the different conflict areas Seeds come from. Graduate Seeds Sawsan and Tal presented their respective national perspectives and personal experiences regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; Yama, Shyam and Sana, from Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan respectively, also shared their narratives on the conflicts that touch their communities. The Seeds took advantage of this unique chance to ask each other questions, learn about other conflicts, and understand and reflect on their own conflicts more intimately.

We then divided the Seeds into inter-delegation working groups of about 15 each, which rotated between four workshops aimed at exploring some of the root causes of conflict and building an understanding of history and current issues. Seeds of Peace’s current director of Israeli programs, Eldad, himself a Graduate Seed, led a workshop on the historic role that foreign involvement—such as colonization and military interventions—has played in sparking or perpetuating conflict around the world. Tamer, another Graduate Seed and Israeli program coordinator, and Feruzan, director of Indian programs, jointly led a workshop focused on rights and civil justice.

Mohammed, a Graduate Seed and current director of Palestinian programs, explored the ways in which media can perpetuate or mitigate conflict, focusing in particular on the use of enemy images, censorship, propaganda, and political agendas. Lastly, Ashleigh, director of Graduate programs, and Yama, an Afghan Graduate Seed, presented a workshop on the role that resources—both natural and human—can play in relations between communities. Each encouraged the Seeds to critically assess the roles that different forces and concerns have played in the history of their conflicts as well as how they continue to shape present-day reality.

On Wednesday night, we were lucky enough to tour the capital city of Dublin. The rain did not stop us from enjoying the downtown area and spending an hour in a souvenir shop buying all things green!

The next morning, Professor and Director of the Master of Arts Program in Coexistence and Conflict at Brandeis University Mari Fitzduff delivered a remarkably engaging talk on the historic conflict between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland, theories and models of conflict transformation, and the connections between diverse cases of intra- and international conflict around the world. She left us with a renewed sense of hope, civic responsibility, and passion for change.

Belfast | July 13

Armed with a basic understanding of the historic conflict on the island of Ireland as well as with new insights into sources of conflict, we set off to Northern Ireland. Friday brought a tour of Belfast; we saw everything from the construction site of the infamous Titanic to the murals on the wall separating the predominantly Protestant Unionist Shankill Road from the majority Catholic Nationalist Falls Road.

We were privileged to hear from a diverse range of speakers during our stay in Belfast. Tommy, a former member of the Ulster Defense Association, shared his personal experiences and journey from being a UDA member to becoming a community peace worker, while Michael, a Republican Parliamentarian, touched on how the conflict continues to play out in government offices. Adree shared her work with a community foundation in underprivileged neighborhoods of Belfast, Michael spoke of the role that education can play in perpetuating or mitigating conflict between divided communities, and Gareth, a former Loyalist combatant, shared his story of transformation and the work he continues today with ex-combatant youth.

Our hosts are all active in their communities, and while they remain in profound disagreement about certain issues, they insist on the importance of cross-community work and the necessity for a peaceful transformation of the conflict. Their life stories and words of wisdom and encouragement left our Seeds with deep insight into the type of work that diverse communities undertook in Northern Ireland as part of the peace process—one that we have come to learn is multifaceted and continuing even 15 years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, the peace agreement that officially ended The Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Engaging with narratives | July 14

An early Saturday wake-up and a short bus ride soon had us in the beautiful northern town of Derry/Londonderry, where our exploration of the conflict in Northern Ireland—and of our own conflicts—continued. We learned about the dynamics of division and unity that exist within the city through two guided tours, one with a Protestant Unionist and one with a Catholic Nationalist. The two narratives of identity, struggle, and power had the Seeds in genuine reflection about the roles that narratives play in their own lives.

We spent the afternoon at The Playhouse, an arts space in the old downtown area, hearing from a group of three community activists who spoke on the value of working across divides and engaging with the most difficult issues and constituencies. The day in Derry/Londonderry ended with an interactive workshop where we explored the power of personal storytelling and witnessing through theater.

Our ride back to Headfort featured beautiful scenery, farm animals left and right and, finally, some singing and dancing as we drove through the gates of a place some of us now refer to as our Irish home.

Reflections | July 15

We used our first morning back at Headfort to debrief our packed two-day trip in Northern Ireland. Through quiet personal writing, one-on-one sharing, and larger group processes, we reflected on the many things we learned, saw, and felt in Belfast and Derry/Londonderry. Seeds shared that beyond just learning about the conflict in Northern Ireland, they also noticed similarities and differences when comparing it to their own conflicts. This prompted a diversity of complex feelings and questions and, for the most part, left our Seeds feeling hopeful about the situations back home.

Our afternoon consisted of delegation meetings, a good long game of Capture the Flag, and an Open Space session that encouraged our Seeds to organize and lead their own activities. These ranged from lessons in basic German, traditional dances, world accents, and martial arts to a discussion about the importance of education and a time for ‘honest conversations.’ Open Space allowed the Seeds to share their many talents, to learn from each other, and to demonstrate and enhance their leadership skills.

Looking ahead | July 16

With only one full day left together, we made the most of our collective brain power to start talking about a difficult yet crucial question: What comes next? What do we do after the seminar? How do we take the lessons learned here and apply them to our own contexts? What are some concrete ways in which we can engage one another and our communities and create positive change?

During a group brainstorm session, we looked back at the many concrete measures of peace-building that were taken in Northern Ireland and categorized them into five main groups. These diverse players and fields—media, politics/economy, the public, youth, and outside influencers—have the potential to positively affect conflict and bring about comprehensive peace. We thus deemed it important to explore them more profoundly. Seeds chose the committee of most interest to them and, in inter-delegation groups, came up with different project ideas within the field that could potentially bring about change in their own communities. They then presented these ideas to the larger group and received applause, positive critique, and encouragement. Some of the ideas presented included mixed schools in Israel and Palestine to combat the discrimination and stereotypes children learn at a young age, a video campaign featuring people’s stories about meeting ‘the other side’ for the first time, and many other context-specific projects our Seeds plan on starting soon or sometime further down the line.

After another creative Open Space session, we were ecstatic to video chat with Leslie and Wil from Camp. Camp and lake nostalgia settled in under sounds of ‘awww’ from the 60 Seeds and 15 staff members present, many of whom are Graduate Seeds themselves. Especially happy were members of the Blue Team after Wil announced who had won Color Games. (N.B. the author of this post maintains the inherent superiority of the Green Team, regardless of who jumps in the lake first.)

We celebrated the end of our week together with a big BBQ outside, for which the sun and rain were pleasantly cooperative. One of our Irish host’s children treated us to a stunning bagpipe performance, the chef made Neveen, a Jordanian Seed, a large chocolate cake for her birthday, and Seeds took the time to spark conversations they hadn’t had yet, to take pictures, and to simply enjoy one another’s company.

Departure | July 17

Departure days are always difficult at Seeds of Peace. Our day started with the American delegation leaving us on a 6 a.m. bus and ended 12 hours later with final goodbyes to Headfort as a bus of Pakistanis and a few staff members drove away. It’s hard to believe that the Game Changers Seminar is over. We are grateful to have learned all we did and to be returning home with newfound knowledge, insights, skills, and friendships. We’ve had an incredible experience and hope you’ve enjoyed it vicariously through these reports and pictures of us. This is what 80 members of the Seeds family learning about comparative conflict in Ireland looks like!
 
GAME CHANGERS PHOTOS

For 130 Arab And Israeli Teen-agers, Maine Camp Is Where Peace Begins
The New York Times

Sep 3, 1995 / 1 Comment

WAYNE, Me., Aug. 26 | Together again in the Maine woods, the two 16-year-old boys, one a Palestinian, the other an Israeli Jew, took up an argument they began when they met at camp three years ago.

“In 1948, the U.N. gave the Jews the right to build their own country, what Israel is today,” said one of the boys, Yehoyada Mandeel, who is known as Yo-Yo and lives in Israel. “Its a fact. We were happy. We were ready to settle for this. But the Arabs said no.”

Laith Arafeh is Palestinian and lives on the West Bank.

“The U.N. resolution 181 was unfair,” he countered. “It gave the Jews 56 percent of the land of Palestine when they were only 17 percent.”

“O.K., let me finish,” Yo-Yo said, waving his arms, as he and his friend sat down together on the dock by the lake. “Now, there was this war, the War of Independence.”

Laith rolled his eyes. “We call it the Catastrophe, the ’48 war.”

He looked at his watch. It was close to noon. History would have to wait.

“I have to pray now,” he said.

“I’m coming with you,” said Yo-Yo, who would be celebrating the advent of the Jewish Sabbath the next night. He wanted to take pictures of his friend kneeling for Muslim prayers on the soccer field. They left the dock, arm-in-arm.

Laith and Yo-Yo live less than 15 miles apart in the Middle East. But they had to travel thousands of miles, to the “Seeds of Peace” camp for Arab and Israeli boys and girls in Maine, to meet and argue and, with work, become friends. This is their third summer together in Maine. They are junior counselors now.

This is also the third summer of the nonprofit camp, which was founded by John Wallach, the former foreign editor of The Hearst Newspapers. He says he wanted to do what all the peace treaties could not bring together young people who have been taught to hate.

The 130 campers, ages 13 to 16, who were selected with help from their governments, arrived here last Monday for two weeks at Camp Androscoggin, just as the American campers had left. They came with adult escorts from their countries. The counselors are mostly young Americans.

“Seeds of Peace,” which operates on a shoestring budget with private contributions, does not have its own camp. At other camps, drama and tension are created during the ritual “color war,” in which campers compete on, say, the green and white teams. At “Seeds of Peace,” the drama and tension are always present. No symbolic divisions are needed.

Like Yo-Yo and Laith, Tamer Nagy, a 15-year-old Egyptian boy, is back for the third summer. “In the beginning it wasn’t easy,” he said. “It wasn’t like we said, ‘Hi, we’re friends.’ All my life, what I’ve been growing up on, ‘Israel is our enemy.’ Then we began to talk.”

The task of getting along is complicated by sharp political, ethnic, cultural and religious differences. Nothing, not even swimming, is simple. Girls and boys must swim separately, in deference to the Muslims.

Mohamed Karim Bada, a 14-year-old Egyptian boy, said his Israeli bunkmate was angry that someone had drawn a Star of David on the floor of their cabin.

“He said, ‘That is our great sign; please don’t walk on it,” Mohamed said. Out of deference to his new friend, Mohamed said, he was very careful not to step on the Jewish symbol.

It is arguable whether bringing 130 young people together in the woods in Maine can change the situation back in their countries. But for a visitor to spend two days with Mohamed and Yo-Yo and Laith, and the others, is to see something powerful. They play soccer, baseball, basketball and tennis together. They sleep together in cabins.

And they are changing. When he heard about five Israelis dying in the latest suicide bombing of a bus, Laith told Yo-Yo he was sorry. Eighteen months before, after an Israeli settler attacked a mosque in Hebron, Yo-Yo telephoned Laith to say that he was sorry. The boys talk regularly on the telephone. Back in Jerusalem, Yo-Yo has enrolled in an Arab study program.

“I did a project on Arafat,” he said, referring to the Palestinian leader. “Laith helped me.” Looking at Laith, he grinned. “You have to do a project on Rabin.”

Laith said: “Rabin is the one we have to deal with now. But I cannot forget that he used to be Minister of Defense. I consider Rabin as a terrorist.”

Yo-Yo said: “The same goes for Arafat. He was the biggest terrorist.”

Laith interrupted: “For you.”

Yo Yo: “I’m saying for me.”

Yo-Yo changed the subject. “I’ve read the Koran in Hebrew. I memorized the first chapter.” He began reciting it.

“I could practically be a Muslim. Laith invited me for a Ramadan feast. It was great. I didn’t even have to fast.”

Laith said his parents, both doctors, like Yo-Yo. He added: “His mother is a nice lady. She came to my house.”

Laith asked: “Do you think your father would come to my house if I invite him?”

Yo-Yo’s voice was pained. “I don’t think so.”

“My father fought in the 1948 war, in ’56 and ’59,” Yo-Yo said. “He has no reason to trust them. When I go to visit Laith, he always says, ‘Something bad is going to happen; they’re going to do something.’ ”

When Laith visits, Yo-Yo said, his father says hello, nothing more.

The silence hurts him, Laith said. But he added, “I can understand it.”

In the evening, the campers meet with trained facilitators to talk about how they feel about each other. The discussions can get intense.

During one recent discussion, 15-year-old Sara Ababneh, Jordanian Muslim, talked angrily about her religion teacher back home.

“He’s anti-feminist,” she said. “He says women can’t be judges, they can’t do things to do with emotion because they’re so emotionally sensitive. I really hate this.”

In another discussion, Laith recalled an incident on the bus the first summer, when he broke up a fight over a seat between two boys, one Israeli, the other Egyptian.

“You know what the Egyptian said to me?” he told the group. “He said, ‘You Palestinians are all terrorists.’ I was stunned. I heard it many times from Israelis, but you know something? I don’t care. They’re supposed to say something like that.” Everyone laughed. “But he’s Arab,” Laith said. “He’s supposed to be my buddy. I despised him. I thought, ‘He doesn’t even deserve being punched.’ ”

That afternoon, Laith and Yo-Yo had been talking about American teenagers.

“They know a lot about basketball, baseball,” Laith said.

Yo-Yo said: “We both wish we could live like Americans. We would like to care about basketball and shoes … should we wear the red shoes or the black shoes?”

Yo-Yo grew serious. “In two years I’m going to go into the Israeli Army. In two years, I’m going to have a gun in my hand. Naturally, it will be my nation first. Laith feels the same way.”

Laith looked his friend in the eye.

“If you were in a jeep, and I threw stones at the jeep, would you shoot me?”

Yo-Yo did not hesitate. “I can’t tell you I would not,” he said.

Read Sara Rimer’s article in The New York Times »

Peace Camp
The Jewish News (Detroit)

Sep 15, 1995 / No Comments

If Middle East peace is to be attained, its groundwork must be put in place by young leadership. A summer camp in Maine brings teens together for this very reason.

BY JENNIFER FINER | At 15, Shouq Tarawneh, a Jordanian, began to feel that the facts and ideas she always accepted as truth needed clarification.

She saw Seeds of Peace, a program in the United States, as an opportunity to shed light on her feelings of darkness. It allowed her; if only temporarily, to live among Palestinians, Egyptians and Moroccans. Most important to Shouq, she would have her first face-to-face meeting with an Israeli.

Even after their countries agreed to live in peace, Shouq felt the images she had of her Israeli neighbors were nothing more than stereotypes. She wanted to clarify them. She had much hope for Seeds of Peace in Wayne, Maine.

“Before I came here, I felt like I was walking in a dark room,” Shouq said. “I had opinions without pictures. Seeds of Peace is like a door out of the dark.

“I’ve learned there are fences of superstition among all of us. We have old opinions of each other and … we’re here to destroy those fences.”

In mid-August, Shouq and her peers met in Boston for briefing sessions before spending two weeks at Camp Androscoggin, in central Maine.

The teens took buses to Washington for the final part of the program. They met with high-level government officials and toured the nation’s capital.

The third Seeds of Peace summer ended last week for 130 participants. They left Washington with a better understanding of each other. While the fences Shouq spoke of remain, many of the teens said they have a greater sensitivity toward how “the other side sees things” and now have a “face on the enemy.”

Seeds of Peace was founded in 1993 by John Wallach, a Jewish journalist who wrote several books on the Middle East, including a biography he co-authored with his wife Janet and PLO Chairman Yassir Arafat.

Mr. Wallach, who worked as a reporter and editor for Hearst Newspapers, planted the program’s initial seed shortly after the February 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York.

“Something went off in the back of my head which said, ‘There has got to be a response to this type of terrorism,’” said Mr. Wallach, whose parents are Holocaust survivors.

“It occurred to me the only response was to get young people together who aren’t poisoned by the hostility of their region. With the peace process moving forward, this became possible like never before.”

Mr. Wallach chose to establish the camp in the United States because it would put campers on a neutral playing field. He also believed it made sense given America’s key role in mediating Middle East peace.

Before Mr. Wallach’s concept could become anything more than an idea, he needed to gain support. So he turned to Mr. Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and other key Middle East leaders.

“I asked them to trust me with some of their teens,” Mr. Wallach said.

At first, the idea was difficult to sell, especially to Egyptian government leaders who, according to Mr. Wallach, were skeptical about sending their children to be with Israelis.

By the second summer, Morocco and Jordan began sending their teens. Although Lebanon and Syria were invited to participate, both declined.

Funding such an endeavor is challenging. All participants are heavily subsidized or completely funded. Parents are given the option to pay $500 of the $2,500 cost. Other funds come from American Jewish and Arab donors.

According to Mr. Wallach, private American donors, mostly Jews and some Arabs, contribute a majority of the budget. The rest comes from a number of foundations and individuals, including an anonymous Saudi Arabian, the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, the Blaustein Foundation, the Goldman Foundation of San Francisco, the Fox Family Foundation, the Streisand Foundation and Time Warner Inc.

Seeds of Peace isn’t exclusive to Middle East teens.

“We want to be responsive to areas of intense conflict,” Mr. Wallach said. To fulfill that goal, a handful of Bosnian and Serbian teens participated in this summer’s program.

“I can’t think of any other place in the world where Bosnians and Serbs are coexisting,” he said. “We don’t try to hide the difficult issues. Instead, we try to give them the skills they need to effectively debate their issues.”

When a bomb struck Sarajevo late last month, tensions at the camp escalated. The Bosnian reaction was, “We hate the Serbs.”

“We have to get them through these initial feelings and encourage them to sit down—with or without a facilitator—and talk,” Mr. Wallach said. “It took 24 hours of dialogue before the Bosnian and Serbian teens got back to their earlier level of friendship.”

While days are filled with swimming, canoeing and arts and crafts, evenings are spent in “coexistence groups.” Through theatrics, games and dialogue, the teens learn to solve conflict through open discussion.

“There is great difficulty involved in making real peace,” Mr. Wallach said. “The amount of hate and prejudice a 13-year-old brings with him shows us how hard we have to work to undo what’s been taught.”

Susan Siegel, a facilitator from New York, listened last month as a Palestinian girl told an Israeli girl, “I hate you,” and later apologized, saying, “I really don’t hate you, but that’s all I’ve ever learned.”

“Watching this process is draining and often frustrating,” said Ms. Siegel. “It’s an incredible challenge to work with kids who are so sophisticated and feel a strong sense of pride, passion and loyalty to their countries.”

During the coexistence groups, professional facilitators conduct workshops designed to extract open dialogue, allowing the teens to unleash their feelings.

Simultaneous evening sessions could be spent talking about gender differences, democracy and identity, while the next evening’s groups might deal with issues relating to values, prejudice, and negotiations and conflict resolution.

Every evening, facilitator Mitch Ross (son of former Michigan state Sen. Doug Ross), who is working toward a master’s in international conflict resolution, took different group members on a night hike where they experienced similar levels of fear and had to rely on each other for support.

Often the teens would sing because they had a need to hear each other’s voices and get through the hike together.

It was during these coexistence meetings that smiles often turned to tears, tempers flared, and differences came out.

On numerous occasions, talks focused on Jerusalem, an issue Israelis and Palestinians discussed passionately.

“We wanted to leave Jerusalem for the end because it’s hardest to talk about,” said Michael Hessel, 13, who grew up in Israel and recently moved with his family to Bethesda, Md.

“When we first discussed Jerusalem, I was hurt by a lot of what was said. Now I realize that’s what the Palestinians were taught.”

After a series of discussions with the Palestinian teens, Michael, who said he would rather die than lose Jerusalem, changed his thinking. He now says he might be more willing to recognize Jerusalem as the capital for Israel and the Palestinians. His friend, Daniel Shinar, an Israeli, doesn’t agree.

“Every time Israel makes peace, it has to give something away,” he said. “I have to a hard time understanding the Palestinian point of view. I try and put myself in their way of thinking and it’s somewhat easier to understand them. I can talk with the Palestinians and we can have fun together. But when trust is the issue, I don’t feel I can trust them 100 percent like I can the Jordanians and Egyptians. I still have the feeling with the Palestinian that he wants my land.”

Israelis found talks about the Holocaust equally disturbing. While some Arabs denied it ever happened, others maintained the number of Jewish deaths were exaggerated.

One morning, some of the Israeli teens returned to their Arab peers with facts on the Holocaust they obtained from the Internet.

For the most part, the deniers became less skeptical. Others asked, “How can we feel sorry for something that happened so many years ago when our relatives are being killed right now?”

A Palestinian teen named Abeer was disappointed the Israelis didn’t always accept her position. However, she thinks the camp has helped promote understanding.

Those who participated in the program were screened through a series of tests and interviews, and each wrote an essay on “Why I Want To Make Peace With the Enemy.”

Most of the participants were new to the program; others were returning peace makers. This summer was the first for Shouq of Jordan.

“I didn’t imagine myself talking to Israelis,” she said. “Here, they’re children before Israelis. Now I realize we are all children and, together, we act as the body of a child. If any part hurts us, it hurts all the kids in the world. If an Israeli and Palestinian has a problem, it’s my problem, too.

“Peace isn’t easy, but the bravery peace needs is not any less than the bravery war needs.”

Seeds of Peace participants arrive with the idea that making peace will be easy. Shortly into the program, they learn how difficult it is.

The camp director, Tim Wilson, a former professional football player and now a teacher in Pittsburgh, brought an added dimension. As an inner-city educator, Mr. Wilson deals with intercultural tensions daily.

“I believe in this program because it’s a place for kids to grow and share and hope,” he said. “A drip turns into a drop before it becomes a stream, then a river and then an ocean. I think we have future prime ministers and other leaders here who will be able to make a difference.”

Following the February 1994 Hebron massacre, when an Israeli shot 40 Palestinians in a mosque at the Cave of Machpelah, former Seeds of peace participants wrote a letter to their respective leaders, asking for Arab-Israeli peace talks to resume.

The teens wrote different drafts of their letter and through use of the fax machine a single letter was sent to both Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yassir Arafat.

Mr. Wallach said encouraging the teens to work together, in ways similar to this peace letter, is difficult during the year.

To maintain dialogue, Seeds of Peace sends its participants a monthly newsletter containing articles written by the teens. Yearly reunions are held, and Mr. Wallach hopes to open regional centers in the Middle East so former participants can get together on a regular basis.

During camp, the teens, who had already found reason to use the Internet as a research tool, were exposed to the Internet so those who had never been on-line could learn and later use it for communication.

One evening after dinner, Michael Hessel, of Maryland, was “surfing the Net,” looking for information about the popular television show The Simpsons when a colorful display of Bart Simpson caught the eye of Tarek Shamma, a 13-year-old Egyptian. Tarek pulled a chair next to Michael and the two began discussing the show.

“When we first met, we were at the bottom of the pit,” Tarek explained. “Now, we are at the top of the mountain.”

Added Michael, “During a ‘coexistence’ at the beginning, I wasn’t very diplomatic with Tarek. After, I felt bad, and with the help of a third party we were able to reach an understanding.”

Tarek responded, “I wasn’t the type of person to say I hate Israelis. I’ve always had an open mind because my parents taught me never to be biased.”

When Tarek was chosen to be a part of the program, he said he considered it an honor, and his parents were pleased for the opportunity.

Many of the childrens’ parents, including Michael Hessel’s, encouraged their sons and daughters to participate. Michael’s grandparents, whom he describes as right-wing were not as encouraging.

“I started hating Arabs because of them,” Michael said.

Mr. Wallach calls the parents courageous for being willing to send their children to America to make peace with the enemy. He said it can be especially difficult for some because Arab terrorist groups target Arabs favoring armistice.

On Sept. 7, the Seeds of Peace teens ended their camp session. The last days were spent in Washington, where they met with U.S. Officials including Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Vice President Al Gore.

Mr. Gore stressed to the teens that the future is up to them. It’s not enough to sign papers, he said. Real peace is in your hands.

Egyptian teen helps others think peace
Portland Press Herald

Jul 23, 1997 / No Comments

OTISFIELD | His name is Amgad and at 18, he understands what’s expected of him as a camp counselor this summer. He’s here, he says, to help build bridges.

“That’s what we Egyptians have been doing for a long time,” Amgad said Tuesday. “I was born the year they signed the (Camp David) treaty, so peace with Israel has always been part of my life.”

Which is more than you can say for many of the kids who just arrived at the Seeds of Peace International Camp. As Amgad looked on in the mid-morning sunshine, a blur of adolescent exuberance representing seven Middle East countries converged on a soccer ball—their laughter cascading from the open field to the shores of Pleasant Lake.

“Look at them,” Amgad said proudly. “They’re a team already.”

It began five years ago in the mind of John Wallach, at the time the foreign editor for The Hearst Newspapers, who decided after the World Trade Center bombing that covering terrorists wasn’t enough—there had to be a way to stop them from taking root in the first place.

Seeds of Peace, he decided, might be the way. The concept was disarmingly simple: Gather together a mix of Arab and Israeli teenagers, bring them to the serenity of the Maine woods for a few weeks each summer and teach them that conflict resolution need not be a matter of who has the most stones or bullets.

“Nobody was paying attention to building peace at a time when the leaders were signing peace treaties,” Wallach said. “I decided you have to start with the young people.”

And so he did. For four years, Seeds of Peace has bounced from one borrowed location to another, skirting the edges of Maine’s normal summer-camp season. Now, thanks to a ten-year lease and an army of volunteers who spent months renovating the all-but-abandoned Camp Powhatan, Wallach’s labor of love has a permanent home.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” he said Tuesday, negotiating his golf cart past the freshly painted bunkhouses, dining hall, wood shop, art studio …

That it is.

They arrived Sunday evening, 175 bleary-eyed kids from Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar and Tunisia. Over the next five weeks, they will split their days between recreation—baseball, tennis, soccer, swimming, sailing, water-skiing—and “coexistence session,” where the real work will be accomplished.

Amgad knows what to expect. He attended the first camp in 1993 and is now back as a counselor—the first alumnus on the staff. At times, he said, the tension will be palpable, the fear and prejudice as deep as the cold, clear waters of Pleasant Lake.

“I feel the pressure,” Amgad said quietly.

But he also feels the hope.

On Tuesday morning, the entire camp met at the main gate for the first-ever flag-raising ceremony.

One by one, the flag for each country unfurled. And one by one, the kids from that country proudly stepped forward and sang their national anthem—to the warm applause of their newfound friends.

Then, just before they walked arm-in-arm into a summer they’ll never forget, they watched one more flag rise—it shows three children projecting the shadow of an olive branch with “Seeds of Peace” stenciled across the bottom—and sang their new camp song.

Amgad, of all people, wrote the words. When it was over, campers representing every conceivable side of the Middle East conflict loudly cheered their young Egyptian role model.

“I was so embarrassed,” Amgad said later. “I’m not used to that.”

Who is?

Rashomon
The Jerusalem Report

Jun 21, 1999 / No Comments

BY IAN HALPERN | Bushra Jawabri, a 17-year-old Palestinian from the al-Arub refugee camp near Hebron, sits inside a rickety minivan discussing the dreaded tawjihi matriculation exam. A third-generation camp resident, Bushra is escaping her studies today to meet the Kosovar Albanian refugees who’ve found shelter at Kibbutz Ma’agan Michael. She’s traveling north with another Palestinian and two Israeli teens on a trip organized by Seeds of Peace, a group that brings together youth from Israel and the Arab world.

When Noa Epstein, 16, from Mevasseret Zion outside Jerusalem, joins the ride, a smile crosses Bushra’s face. The two met at Seeds of Peace summer camp in the U.S. in 1997, and have kept in touch. With Adham Rishmawi, a jocular 16-year-old from Beit Sahur, telling jokes to 15-year-old Dana Gdalyahu from Rishon Lezion, the laughter nearly exceeds the noise from the old van’s engine.

Hours later on the kibbutz, the groups forms a tight circle on the porch, listening to Kreshnik Bajktari, 23, a Kosovar dentistry student with remarkable green eyes. Gazing towards the Mediterranean, he tells his story slowly. On April 3, after 10 days hiding in the basement of his parents’ home in Pristina, watching Kosovo erupt on CNN, he left with his mother and two brothers. Serbs were shelling the neighborhood, and police units were evicting residents by force. “I knew it would soon be my turn, and because I am young they might kill me,” he says. The Bajktaris fled to the Blace refugee camp in Macedonia, where Kreshnik served as an interpreter at the IDF field hospital, earning him a place among the first 111 refugees flown to Israel.

Kreshnik spent five days watching Serbian trains unload thousands of Albanian refugees. “Every day I counted train cars. There were 22 cars filled with people and the smell was terrible. I recognized many people. They were my neighbors.”

As the teens absorb the gruesome tale, sympathetic nods and knowing glances ripple through the group. They listen to the same story but hear different things.

“Some Israelis get upset about Holocaust comparisons,” says Noa, whose father fled the Nazis as a child. “But that’s the first thing I thought of, the stories of my grandparents.” The detail that stirs memories from Adham, a child of the Intifada, comes when Kreshnik says he recognized the smell of tear gas by age 6 and he’s only known Serbs as soldiers and police. “The things you saw on TV, I saw them with my eyes,” says Adham, whose father was arrested for leading a non-violent tax revolt.

On the drive back, chocolate chip cookies take some of the edge off and the kids decompress. They reflect on history’s victims. “There’s no need to compare pain,” says Noa. “We suffered, the Palestinians are suffering, and others are still suffering. Comparisons aren’t the point at all.”

Real-life lessons in dispelling prejudice
The Wellesley Townsman

Mar 24, 2005 / No Comments

Social studies teacher participates in organization brings together Arab, U.S. educators

BY DENISE WIDMAN | During a family dinner one night before the recent presidential election, our sixth-grade daughter reflected, “I don’t understand why countries fight. Why can’t the leaders just talk and work things out?”

It seems so simple—in theory. Yet, during the last few years, our middle school children have witnessed significant world strife: the 9/11 attacks; the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, among others. Is there a way to avoid such conflicts before they turn so destructive?

Jonathan Rabinowitz, 31, a sixth-grade social studies teacher at the Wellesley Middle School, is convinced he has found a way. Last summer, Mr. “R,” as he is affectionately called by his students, participated in a two-week program known as Beyond Borders. Sponsored by Seeds of Peace, an organization headquartered in Otisfield, Maine, and revered for its leadership camp, the Beyond Borders program brought together 25 adult educators from the United States and several Arab countries.

Led by experienced facilitators, the educators participated in an intensive exchange program. To begin the course, the group spent several mornings in sessions learning active listening and brainstorming skills. Also, in an effort to break down stereotypes, the participants exposed their preconceptions of each other’s cultures.

For Rabinowitz, who is Jewish, some of the stereotypical notions quickly hit home. He was surprised how much Arab views of America are intertwined with their opinions of Jewish people and the amount of misunderstanding that exists. While Jews represent only a tiny minority in the United States and internationally, Rabinowitz found himself dispelling the notions that “Jews control the world and the media.”

Conversely, some members of the Arab delegation were apprehensive that, while visiting the United States, American citizens would view them as terrorists.

“How the American side perceives Arab culture is often different from how they see themselves,” Rabinowitz said. “For example, there was much discussion about women’s rights in the Arab world. Democratic freedoms for women, such as the right to drive or vote, were not often viewed similarly by the Arabs and Americans. For instance, one Saudi Arabian woman felt she was treated very well in her home country, and lacking the privilege to drive was not a personal insult but simply part of her country’s cultural structure.”

In addition, contrary to what many Americans believe, not all Arabs oppose United States policies, he said. In fact, there is much disagreement among the various Arab nations regarding their positions on the war in Iraq, he added.

Next came an important part of the program. Each delegation was assigned two topics: “What do you as an American (or Arab) want the other delegation to know about your society?” and “What do you want to learn about the various Arab cultures (and vice versa)?”

The groups then prepared presentations that were delivered over the next few days. In addition to the structured exercises aimed at building relationships, the groups went on field trips to learn more about American culture. The Americans took their Arab counterparts to visit such Americana as a fire station, a bowling alley and a shopping plaza. Another outing was to the home of an elderly woman who lived alone and welcomed the team with homemade cookies.

The visit reinforced the concept of American independence, since the notion of older people living on their own is unusual in other cultures.

The second part of the Beyond Borders program is occurring as this article is published. The delegation is now in Jordan where Arabs and Americans will learn about Arab culture in “their backyard,” as the group again works through the steps of the leadership curriculum, this time on Arab soil.

Why did Mr. “R,” who was born in South Africa and emigrated with his family when he was 6 years old, choose to apply to the Beyond Borders program?

“As a teacher, it is imperative to get outside the classroom and experience what we teach. I wanted to bring fresh material back to the students for a discussion of stereotypes and religion. We are fortunate that Wellesley has a broad-based religion unit where we can explore these issues.”

When asked to summarize this invaluable experience, Rabinowitz pondered a moment. “It’s all about perceptions,” he responded thoughtfully.

The PID is not convincing
Ha’aretz Editorial

Oct 18, 2006 / No Comments

The PID’s behavior was flawed throughout their investigation of the suspects of the October 2006 killings, and at times, it looked like a whitewash.

Close attention should be paid to the harsh statements made by Professor Shimon Shamir, a member of the Or Commission, about the need for the Police Investigations Department (PID) to seriously examine itself. This is not the first time Shamir has attacked the PID. Back in September 2005, when the PID announced its decision not to press charges against police officers involved in the October 2000 incidents, Shamir and his colleague on the commission, Judge Hashim Khatib, charged that the PID had failed to implement the Or Commission’s recommendations and ignored its findings. Following publication of the recent report by Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, the criticisms leveled by Shamir and Khatib appear even more justified.

The PID’s behavior was flawed throughout the affair, and at times, it looked like a whitewash. Adalah’s investigation reveals, inter alia, that contrary to the Or Commission’s recommendations, five killings were never investigated, and police officers who were investigated were not required to explain contradictions between their testimony to the PID and their testimony before the commission. It also turns out that the PID did not reveal police officers’ refusal to cooperate with the investigation and undergo lie detector tests; that witnesses considered trustworthy by the Or Commission were rejected by the PID; and that even though the PID did not present any new evidence, its conclusions about the incidents were the opposite of those reached by the commission.

To date, the PID has not offered a convincing explanation for its failure to investigate the events from day one. The argument that it was difficult to carry out an investigation in the field is weak, and the claim that the victims’ families did not cooperate is problematic. Even the legality of the order to open fire was never examined. Had the PID investigators taken the Or Commission’s conclusions seriously, they would not have ignored this issue, and it is doubtful whether they would have been able to avoid recommending the indictment of the responsible commanders.

The PID’s contempt for the commission’s conclusions was further expressed at a press conference called by senior Justice Ministry officials a mere three days after the PID published its decision not to indict any officers – a decision that provoked a public storm and bitter disappointment in the Arab community. The complacency displayed at this press conference, and the sweeping defense presented by State Prosecutor Eran Shendar (who in fact should not have been involved at all, because he served as head of the PID when the incidents occurred, and a significant portion of the Or Commission’s criticisms related to his conduct at that time), changed a few days later, when the PID agreed to reconsider its decision. But the final decision to close all the cases ended any chance of correcting the double injustice that was done to the bereaved families.

The PID and the Justice Ministry react strongly, often aggressively, to accusations that had the dead not been Arabs, the entire affair would have been handled differently. The accusation, like the reaction, is hard to prove. Nonetheless, it is certainly possible to understand the Arab community’s pained feeling that the PID is showing contempt both for them and for the Or Commission, and thereby signaling police officers that the life of an Arab Israeli citizen is worth less before the law. The PID must reopen these cases, conduct a courageous investigation and restore, albeit belatedly, a bit of the confidence in the system that Arab Israeli citizens have lost.

Read this editorial at Ha’aretz »

Israeli bullet ends a life in two worlds
The Washington Post

Oct 5, 2000 / No Comments

BY LEE HOCKSTADER | JERUSALEM At age 17, Asel Asleh was the kid with the 1,000-watt smile, an extroverted, trilingual computer junkie with a gift for gab, a glittering future and, for an Arab, an almost unheard of network of close Jewish friends whose mothers he invariably charmed.

So when Asel was killed Monday, shot in the neck by Israeli soldiers during rock-throwing protests, he was mourned beyond the confines of his Arab village in northern Israel’s Galilee region. In Jerusalem, too, his Jewish friends converged from all over Israel to hug, weep and reminisce, and to puzzle over this question: How could they love Asel—really love him—and also love the country whose soldiers shot him dead?

“On the one hand, I love my country, and I support my soldiers and think they’re not trying to kill anyone—just trying to protect the people,” said Moran Eizenbaum, 17, her eyes glassy and her words coming in a rush. “On the other hand, I loved Asel, and I have a hard time picturing that he was such a threat to the security of Israel that they had to shoot him. I mean, they had to have a reason. But how could they have shot Asel? I mean, why Asel? What did Asel do?”

Asel had found his Jewish friends through Seeds of Peace, an American program that has brought more than 800 Arab and Israeli teenagers to summer camp in Maine since 1993, then helped keep them in touch once they returned to the Middle East.

The program, which cuts against the animosity and ignorance that help fuel Middle East hatreds, had few more sterling success stories than Asel. He was, by all accounts, a model of what a Seed should be—an immoderately prolific e-mailer, letter writer and phone caller who invested time and energy into making Jewish friends and keeping them.

“Everyone’s friendly at Seeds of Peace, but he was super-friendly,” said Dana Naor, 17, a Jewish Seed veteran from the Israeli town of Holon. “He used to make a point of talking to our parents. He’d come hug me and say hi. I think my mom was in love with him.”

The tears and grief of Asel’s fellow Seeds have led them to ask questions that few other Israelis have been asking during the violence that has consumed Israel, Gaza and the West Bank for the last six days.

As the clashes have spiraled, many Israelis have circled the wagons. Although they may disagree about politics, few Israelis doubt that the army has been forced to open fire on rioters or that Palestinians and Israeli Arabs have played a large part in provoking the events that have led to more than 60 deaths. Some Israelis have Arab acquaintances but few have Arab friends, and the mounting death toll among Palestinians has registered with most Israelis more as a statistic than as individual human tragedies.

“Our deaths are stories, but theirs are just numbers,” said the headline on an unusually frank article in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz this week.

But at Seeds of Peace headquarters in East Jerusalem, from whose roof today fluttered four black flags of mourning, the fighting and death have suddenly become intensely personal. And the certainties of their countrymen are provoking doubts among the young Jewish Seeds.

“Before this, I thought that anybody who got killed was guilty in some way,” said Naor. “And now I think that maybe everyone is more like Asel. Maybe they were all just walking back from school when ….” Her voice trailed off.

What happened with Asel—how he died—is in question. He was killed in a clash Monday with Israeli forces on the outskirts of his village, Arabeh, in upper Galilee. Whether he was throwing stones, helping the wounded or simply watching the action is unclear. More than a half-dozen Israeli Arabs were killed that day, and Israeli police say all died in the riots that swept the region. A spokesman said he could provide no specific information about Asel’s death.

Asel’s family, which saw his body before burial on Tuesday, say his wounds, including extensive bruises to the back, arms and face, suggested he had been beaten with rifle butts before being shot. No autopsy was conducted.

To his fellow Seeds, the circumstances of Asel’s death are not the main point. Some are skeptical that Asel could have been throwing stones; others suspect he probably did, although they cannot quite imagine it.

What they could imagine was what they remembered—a big, broad-shouldered boy who was 14 or 15 when he first enrolled in Seeds of Peace, who seemed much older than his age and a little frightening to some of the Israelis. Until he smiled.

“He looked older, but he turned out to be this big teddy bear,” said Shirley Evrany, 17.

Eizenbaum remembers steering clear of him at the Seeds camp in Maine, until one day he overheard her wishing she could find some chocolate.

“He said, ‘If you want M&Ms, I can get you some,'” she recalled.

He was, the Seeds agreed, passionate and persuasive about his politics, but also funny. And he was intensely torn over his dual identity as an Arab and an Israeli—part of the 18 percent Arab minority who vote, pay taxes, attend school, speak Hebrew and have 10 representatives in the 120-member Israeli parliament.

Two years ago, a girl named Reem Masarwa wrote to The Olive Branch, the newspaper of the Seeds of Peace, that she felt “caught between worlds” as an Arab citizen of Israel. Asel wrote back with some advice for her.

“I’m an Israeli?” he wrote. “So how come the word Arab is still there? I can never take the word Israeli off my passport, or the word Arab, which I feel proud of every time I hear it. We can’t change what we are, but we can change the way that we live already, we can take our lives in our hands once again, we can move from a position as a viewer of this game to a player. We are no more asked to watch; we can make a change. We don’t have to be caught; we can lead these two worlds, and still keep everything we had.”

To his Jewish friends in Seeds of Peace, Asel was a touchstone of shared experience. On their return from Maine, many found themselves hassled in school, called Arab-lovers and worse. And then they’d get e-mail from Asel, then a phone call, then an invitation to visit his house in Galilee.

And so the Seeds of Peace program was borne along, with a major assist from teenagers like Asel.

If he had an idealistic streak, Asel was also a realist, his friends said. A high school senior, he planned to attend the Technion in Haifa, Israel’s MIT, and to study computers and engineering.

Probably, said the Seeds, Asel would have founded a high-tech start-up. Probably, they said, he would have become well-to-do and important.

Now, the Seeds realized, they will never know what Asel would have become.

Bitter and stunned at what for many is their first experience with death, the Seeds are trying to make sense of Asel’s killing.

Said Eizenbaum: “We question what the hell we’re doing [in Seeds of Peace] if people are still getting shot and killed. It’s like, what’s the point?”

At Seeds of Peace headquarters today, Asel’s friends turned the main upstairs conference room into a shrine to his memory, decking it out with photos of Asel grinning, Asel making funny faces and Asel monkeying around. They lit candles on the floor and placed them around a scrapbook open to a page he had written about a field trip to Jordan—in successive paragraphs of Arabic, Hebrew and English.

Later this month, Seeds of Peace headquarters will celebrate the first anniversary of its opening in Jerusalem. Hundreds of Seeds have been invited, but a pall has been cast over the event.

“I cannot imagine how they’re going to have it without Asel,” said Evrany.