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Seeds of Peace: A ‘new nation’
The Advertiser Democrat (Maine)

Jul 24, 1997 / No Comments

BY G.M. ECKEL IV | OTISFIELD There is a tangible sense of idealism, purpose, and emotion in the words of the Seeds of Peace camp founder and president John Wallach as he welcomes the diverse group of blue jeans, sneakers, foreign tongues, and green t-shirts on Tuesday morning:

“You have a right to be proud, to be very proud of your flag, your culture, your heritage… But here, now, when we all walk through these gates, we are all part of this new nation.”

With that dedication, some 164 school-aged children from Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Morocco, Qatar and Tunisia cheer and smile nervously at one another at the official opening of Wallach’s grand “experiment,” the Seeds of Peace International Camp for Conflict Resolution, now in its fifth year.

These campers come from diverse backgrounds, chosen by their respective governments to participate in this program. They have experienced first hand the casualties of Middle Eastern conflicts with fathers, brothers, and relatives killed fighting for one cause or another. A cousin of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is participating this year, along with a nephew of Palestinian president Yassar Arafat.

“I’m excited,” says Alia Abdel Rahman, a half Palestinian and half Lebanese girl from Washington, DC whose father is the chief negotiator for the Palestinian National Authority, second only to Yassir Arafat himself. “It was very touching when an Israeli boy came up and put his arm around my shoulder as we were singing the camp’s anthem. Hopefully, [camp] will be good.”

The Seeds of Peace program, whose existence predates the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords between Israel and the Palestinians, has brought nearly 600 teenage campers from the Middle East region to Maine over the years to participate in its unique program whose accolades to date include the 1996 UNESCO Peace prize.

“It’s a sensitizing process here for the kids. We teach them how to listen, how to respect one another. It’s back to basics, almost like a detoxification process,” Wallach explains after the ceremony.

Central to the Seeds of Peace program are “coexistence” sessions where Arab and Israeli campers come together in small groups twice a day to discuss the deep set issues of cultural, political, and ethnic conflict endemic in the Middle East.

In these professionally-facilitated sessions, “there is a real catharsis for these kids. This is where the tears are shed. We get the kids to really listen to each other,” Wallach says. “They really bring a lot of pent-up hatred with them.”

The coexistence sessions are an essential part of the experience, Wallach says, but not the most important part. For the three weeks that the campers are here on the shores of Pleasant Lake, Arab and Israeli campers sleep in the same cabins, they eat together, they swim together, they play sports together. This, Wallach says, is where the real seeds of friendship are sown.

The morning sun trickles down through the pines and oaks at the camp’s gates as applause, cheering, and quintessentially American whooping punctuates the flag-raising ceremony. In turn, each of the eight delegations sings their respective national anthem as the flags are raised, culminating with a guitar-accompanied rendition of the camp’s anthem whose lyrics were written by an 18-year-old Egyptian camper.

“It’s exciting to see this going on,” Tim Wilson, the camp director says, smiling. “John and the Board have worked real hard to make this happen and to continue the legacy of this camp.”

“This is a model for building peace here,” continues Wallach. “We’re getting people to talk to one another, starting with the young people, working with the next generation.”

In future summers, Wallach hopes to expand the program to offer different sessions for youth from troubled regions of the world; among them, a session for Northern Ireland Protestant and Catholic campers, one for Bosnian Muslim and Serbian campers, and perhaps even, one for inner-city American teens.

With the end of the ceremony, the delegations break up into different camp groups, and friends and compatriots are reluctantly separated from one another in a scene reminiscent of so many other summer camp moments. These are only kids, after all, notes Wallach as the dust settles.

“Maine is so perfect,” he says gesturing upwards. “I mean, look around and you’ll see the way the world was when it was created.”

Dharker’s Dilemma: Sowing the seed
The Times of India

Nov 20, 2000 / No Comments

BY ANIL DHARKER | The American summer camp is a great institution. In their school vacations, parents send their children to these camps all over the United States where they literally camp out (in tents and things) in the Great Outdoors. In this way parents solve the problem of how to channelise their kids’ inexhaustible energy when not at school. The kids, on the other hand, learn things like living with children they don’t know, they learn self-sufficiency, they learn to adjust—basically they learn to cope.

One American adult, perhaps looking back on his own Summer Camp days, zeroed in on one phrase in the above litany of virtues: children learning to live with children they don’t know.

The adult is John Wallach, a journalist with first-hand experience of reporting the Arab-Israeli conflict. He had this radical idea: why not bring Arab and Israeli children together in an American camp? Thus was born Seeds of Peace in 1993.

This appropriately named programme began with a camp of 50 Arab-Israeli children that year in the Maine woods; seven years later the number has grown to over 400, and the regional representation at the camps has increased: Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian, Jordanian, Moroccan, Tunisian, Qatari, Yemeni, Cypriot, Greek, Turkish and Balkan.

That’s taking in a lot of the world’s conflicts, with one notable exception.

No wonder the programme now has the support of the United Nations and world leaders like Israeli PM Ehud Barak, Yasser Arafat, President Clinton and others. This extract from a People Magazine story on Seeds of Peace conveys the flavour of what happens in these camps:

“Yasmin Mousa was frightened on her first day of camp in the Maine woods …Who could blame her, given the unfamiliar surroundings and the new faces … ? But Mousa’s worries ran deeper than the typical new camper’s. In all her life, the 15-year-old child of Palestinian refugees from Gaza had never socialised with Israelis. Even before her grandmother was killed by an Israeli solder, her Palestinian family had regarded Israelis as mortal enemies. But now, Mousa was about to share a bunkhouse—not just for a night, but for three weeks—with people she feared. ‘How can I sleep next to an Israeli girl?’ She asked herself. ‘She’s going to kill me!'”

Mousa, of course, wasn’t killed. In fact, she and her Israeli tent-mate became friends, playing games, comparing ideas on their religion, taking part in the formal conflict-resolution exercises organised by the camps where they discussed, and then discarded, their prejudices.

That, of course, is the key: the discarding of prejudices. It doesn’t always work so smoothly: recently Israelis, against camp rules, displayed their flag in a cultural presentation; Palestinians retaliated by raising their own flag. Slogans followed: in other words, the adult world of West Asia was replicated by their children in a forest in America.

But, then, who said prejudices die easily? They don’t. People die easily; and they die easily because of prejudice.

Seeds of Peace tries to get rid of the misconceptions that divide people: What an Israeli teenager finally sees is that the Arab is also a teenager like him. And if someone in the Israeli’s family has been a victim of Arab violence, someone in his new-found Arab friend’s family has been a victim of Israeli violence as well.

Why isn’t there a Seeds of Peace programme for India and Pakistan?

As it happens, as people Indians and Pakistanis are far closer to each other than other neighbours. It’s only politics and politicians who have made them feel like enemies, especially the political parties, both in India and Pakistan which thrive on hate and whose one point programme is to demonise the country across the border. These parties have been able to stop, almost completely, any non-political exchanges between the two countries: whether it’s in the field of the arts, literature, music and entertainment, or even in the field of sports, including cricket.

Luckily, satellite television jumps easily over borders, so we do get to keep in touch through our remote. What an appropriate word ‘remote’ is in the context!

And that’s something we’ve got to change through exchanges, and through programmes like Seeds of Peace. We have to do this not just for “goody-goody” reasons, but for reasons of sheer pragmatism: India’s military budget escalates every year and takes away allocations to what should be essentials, but are regarded by our planners as expendables: healthcare, education, public support programmes for the poor. Every new military boot steps on the stomach of the weak and the infirm. Every new gun takes away a class-room. Every new plane wipes away complete health care units.

That’s why we have to plant the ‘Seeds of Peace.’ And when that ‘we’ includes us and our neighbours those seeds will grow very rapidly into strong and nourishing trees.

Seeds of Peace Experience Brings New Responsibilities
Washington File (US Department of State)

Mar 13, 2006 / No Comments

BY STEPHEN KAUFMAN | WASHINGTON, DC Selection for Seeds of Peace camp in Maine is a great honor, and it opens doors for future educational and career opportunities. But it also imposes a hard burden when participants return home, as new Seeds and try to convince skeptical family, friends and neighbors that peace with sworn enemies is a very real possibility.

The Seeds of Peace program recruits 14-15 year olds from the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and Southeast Europe to attend three-week camp sessions in Maine, where they interact with peers on the opposite sides of their conflicts, learn to communicate with them and even form lasting friendships.

Several Seeds of Peace alumni and friends gathered in Washington March 4 for a gala to raise awareness and support for the program among visiting ambassadors and U.S. Congressmen. In remarks to the audience and in interviews with the Washington File, alumni discussed challenges they face in trying to overcome the doubt, convictions and prejudices of those who did not have the benefit of the Seeds of Peace experience.

“I found myself responsible when I went back home,” said Ahmad, an Afghan Seed. “So I started from my classmates, from my best friends. … I was not sure about the reasons, about how I would be able to teach them, but after a few months I saw a certain progress.”

“[T]hey never had the chance to taste and to feel the real meaning of peace because everyone my age was born in war and they have grown up in war,” he said.

The Seeds from Afghanistan faced a challenge far different from that of other delegations. “We never had a problem with other countries; the problem was with different ethnic groups,” he said. Therefore, the Afghan Seeds had to struggle at camp to become one, united delegation.

“[W]e are trying to let them know that discrimination against different ethnic groups really is something dangerous for the country. I feel myself responsible for converting them to the message of peace,” he said.

Stereotypes, Mistrust Formidable Barriers

To many of their respective compatriots, Sahar and Rashna, two college-age girls, would seem to be unlikely friends. Sahar, who is from Lahore, Pakistan, met Rashna, a native of Bombay, India, as bunkmates in Maine, and reminisced about how they enjoyed each other’s company.

They returned home, ready to spread the message that the Indian and Pakistani people need not be enemies, but sometimes they had trouble finding people who were receptive to that message.

“As soon as we got back from the camp in 2001 we started going to our schools,” Rashna said, holding conferences and talking about their experiences so that “people who didn’t get the opportunity to go to Maine get a chance to be part of the process in their own countries.”

“There is a lot of skepticism about Seeds of Peace, because you are telling these people that what they believe in, it’s not actually true, [and] that there’s another story to it,” Sahar said.

Stereotypes of bitter enemies die hard. Sahar was told by friends and family that Indians always would mistreat Pakistanis and the distrust never would end. They believed that “you should not even talk to each other … and not even accept any type of a relationship because nothing would come out of it,” she said.

Among older people, Sahar found it difficult to talk about peace, because they would tell her, “You were born into a peaceful situation. You didn’t see any wars.”

Most of the older generation has doubts about the possibility of real peace, said Kobi, a Seed from Israel. “In the kind of environment where there are so many hardships and terrorism is part of your life, you become a skeptic.”

However, “kids are not jaded by reality. They’re still kids and they dream of being able to fly. … They dream of being able to travel. They dream of unlimited amounts of ice cream. And they dream of peace,” he said.

Political Agenda?

Sahar said she tells those who are skeptical of the program as “American propaganda” that the experience is not political. “It’s not about getting rid of your beliefs and your political ideas; it’s about being able to discuss them with each other. That’s the most important thing.”

Rashna said that five years after she met Sahar in Maine, “I still think Kashmir should be Indian and she still thinks Kashmir should be Pakistani. But we can stand here and talk with each other.”

The Seeds of Peace home-stay program has provided a way to increase the network of friends and family exposed to the organization, and to young people they once might have considered an “enemy.”

When Indian participants came to Lahore, Sahar invited family members and friends who had not participated in the program to come and meet them. It’s “an ongoing process involving more and more people,” she said. “We have this program where once every two or three months we invite friends from our school and tell them about our experiences and about our program.”

Neither shy away from being labeled idealists.

“I’m called an idealist very often but I just feel that if you don’t have an ideal then you’re not moving in any direction, so it’s not a bad thing,” Rashna said.

Sahar agreed. “You have to dream in order to achieve something.”

Peer Resentment

With so many Seeds of Peace alumni now studying in some of the world’s top universities or beginning lucrative careers, it is easy to imagine some resistance to its message, based in part upon bitterness about their personal successes, in many countries where good educational and career opportunities are hard to find.

“There is a little resentment, definitely,” Sahar acknowledged.

After returning home to Hebron and seeing the suffering and despair that he had escaped while in the United States, Fadi, a Palestinian Seed, said, “in my mind I felt extremely selfish that I had this opportunity. … There is nothing to worry about [in America] compared to what they have.”

Fadi, who now studies in a US university, said he did not feel he could return to the United States in good conscience. “I am not better than you, I grew up with you, and you have nothing from what I have,” he told his friends.

But they replied, “Fadi, you have a choice, but we don’t.”

“They’re absolutely right,” he said. “[But] sometimes I wish I can see Seeds of Peace as an organization that literally can include all Palestinian and Israeli children.”

New SUN for Seeds program matches alumni with professional mentors

Sep 3, 2011 / 1 Comment
Photo: Bashar, a Palestinian-Israeli Seed from ’99, enlisted in SuN for Seeds to gain mentorship in nonprofit management. Bashar recently founded a community development nonprofit to combat growing signs of youth apathy and hopelessness in his hometown of Tira.

For 18 years, Seeds of Peace has invested in developing new generations of leadership in areas of conflict. Our Seeds are now emerging as public servants, CEOs, medical professionals, activists and scholars. Many are at pivotal points in their careers where they can begin blending their goals as Seeds and as professionals in order to better influence their societies. To help support these Seeds through this important process we created the Support Network (SuN) for Seeds.

The Support Network for Seeds (SuN) helps Seeds of Peace’s strongest alumni pursue personal and professional ambitions that will enable them to reach their potential as leaders and influencers of peace within their societies. The program matches Graduate Seeds with Coaches, high-level professionals with specific expertise related to the Seed’s interest, for a one-hour meeting to support their job applications, improve their résumé or interview skills, strategize next steps for their career advancement and/or advise Graduates on continuing educational opportunities.

Learn more about becoming a Coach »

Seeds of Peace camp kicks off in Maine
Associated Press

Jul 25, 2015 / No Comments

OTISFIELD, Maine | A Maine camp that brings together teenagers from the Middle East and South Asia is open for its final summer session.

More than 180 Afghan, American, Egyptian, Indian, Israeli, Jordanian, Pakistani and Palestinian campers are participating in the Seeds of Peace camp in Otisfield.

A flag-raising ceremony was held Thursday.

The camp was founded on the idea of bringing together teens from countries that are in conflict with each other in hopes of opening a door to dialogue and understanding that can provide a foundation for building peace.

More than 5,300 young leaders have attended the camp over the past 22 years.

The peacemakers
Ladies’ Home Journal

Dec 8, 2000 / No Comments

Say the word peacemaker, and politicians and diplomats come to mind. But peacemakers are also those who work in the trenches, sometimes risking their lives. Here, the stories of three women dedicated to making a difference across the globe.

Befriending the Enemy

Lindsay Miller was in her early twenties when she spent a year in Jerusalem with her husband, Aaron David Miller, then a graduate student. “We had friends from both Jewish and Arab communities,” Miller recalls fondly.

Those friendships fueled Miller’s passion for the Middle East. “I wanted to understand and be involved in all cultures that were a part of Jerusalem,” she says. Nearly two decades later, Miller, now forty-nine, found a job that would allow her to do just that. By then, her husband was negotiating peace agreements in the Middle East for the U.S. State Department, and the family was living in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Family friend John Wallach, then a foreign editor for Hearst Newspapers, told Miller that he wanted to start a summer camp for Israeli and Palestinian youth. “I said, ‘Here I am,’ because that’s where my heart was,” she recalls.

Seven years later, the Seeds of Peace International Camp hosts more than four hundred teens each year in three sessions in Otisfield, Maine, and Miller is a vice president of the organization. The camp has expanded to include Egyptians, Jordanians, and Moroccans.

Much of Miller’s work takes place in Washington, D.C., where she has garnered an astonishing level of bipartisan support for the program. Each year, she takes the campers to meet with the president, vice president, secretary of state and members of Congress. She has also brought camp alumni to meetings with Middle East leaders, such as the late King Hussein of Jordan and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Often, the campers tell world leaders that “the impossible has happened—their enemy has become a friend,” says Miller. “The leaders inevitably say how inspired they are by the youth.” Knowing they have the support of world leaders is tremendously important to the teens, who often face hostility or disbelief from friends and family as they try to maintain the cross-border friendships they’ve developed, she says.

Miller says the best part of her job at Seeds of Peace is spending time with the kids at camp. During the first week, some of the kids are so mistrustful of each other that they are afraid to go to sleep. But by the end of the three-and-a-half-week session, the children are friends. “They won’t go home with the same beliefs about what their ‘enemy’ is like because now the enemy has a face,” says Miller.

The teens participate in typical camp activities, such as tennis, swimming and music. They also spend two hours each day debating some of the Middle East’s most bitter conflicts.

Miller’s daughter, Jennifer, a junior at Brown University, spent three summers at Seeds of Peace as both a camper and a counselor. Last summer, she was a counselor in a bunk that held both Arab and Israeli girls. Early in the session, campers learned that the cousin of two Palestinian campers, who had been shot in the spring, had died. The event caused a chill in Jennifer’s bunk that was particularly hurtful to Natalie, an Israeli girl, who wanted to extend her sympathy but could not get Dima, a Palestinian girl, to open up.

One week later, campers learned that a Palestinian woman had been shot and killed by an Israeli soldier. In the dining hall that day, campers stood and expressed their feelings. “With all of the tension, Natalie and Dima realized they couldn’t keep things inside anymore,” recalls Jennifer. “Natalie went up to Dima and gave her a hug. They both stood there hugging and crying. It was incredible.”

Lindsay Miller hopes her work will ultimately change global politics. “We give the kids the tools to stand up for what they believe in,” she says. “In a few years, they will be in positions of real responsibilities, and they’ll be there to make a difference.”

For Miller, this year’s highlight was intramural day, when the kids played against other local camps in a variety of sports. Watching the Seeds of Peace campers conquer their opponents, Miller says, “Everyone was cheering for each other. It was a real team.” Afterward, the Seeds of Peace kids invited their vanquished opponents to join them for a picnic lunch. Says Miller, laughing, “They’re the peacemakers.”

Peace Time: On a visit to Jordan, Texas and Arab teens continue dialogue
The Dallas Morning News

Apr 28, 2005 / No Comments

BY NANCY CHURNIN | The last time we visited the Texas and Arab teens who met and bonded through Seeds of Peace (“One teen at a time“), they told us how they listened to one another’s music, belly-danced, played sports and swapped tales about school. Best of all, they shared their wonder as they found that their friendship proved stronger than their different points of view at the International Camp held in Otisfield, Maine, at the end of August.

The bonding continues as these same teens traveled together March 12-19 to Amman, Jordan, where 33 American and 25 Arab Seeds, as they call themselves, were warmly welcomed by King Abdullah II, Queen Noor (the widow of King Hussein) and Prince El Hassan bin Talal (the brother of King Hussein).

The teens rode camels, watched the sunrise from a desert mountain, visited ancient cities and sipped sage tea prepared by gracious Bedouins. But the best part, they agree, was the strengthening of the ties that began last summer and their growing determination to spread the message of peace. Here’s what some of them had to say about their trip.

Samantha Richey, 16, DeSoto

What was the highlight?
Meeting King Abdullah II and Queen Noor. I was surprised they took so much time to talk to us. They truly believe in what Seeds of Peace is doing. Queen Noor did not act like royalty but just like an everyday person.

What surprised you most?
In some places, Jordan is really no different than the U.S. Of course, some places were very different, such as Jerash and Petra. I was overwhelmed with the thought of how old these places are.

Who did you meet that changed your mind?
Leena, an older Palestinian Seed, and Ran, an older Israeli Seed. I never really knew much about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hearing both sides and being able to ask them questions helped me to form opinions.

What did you see that changed your mind?
When I first heard of the Bedouins, I thought they would be unwelcoming, but the complete opposite happened. While in Wadi Rum, a few Bedouins made traditional sage tea for all of us.

How have you changed since last summer?
We are not just a group of 60 kids who went to summer camp and then a foreign country. We are 60 kids who are striving to make a difference in this world, and our journey is just beginning.  

George Brown, 15, Fort Worth

What was the highlight?
Listening to Prince El Hassan speak. He is the type of international leader that I wish I could be someday. He is a leader who doesn’t set limitations on what he says.

What surprised you most?
The fact that we could all come back together and get to know each other again without any apprehensions.

Who did you meet that changed your mind?
I met many Muslim males who reinforced my idea that all Muslim males aren’t sexist.

What did you see that changed your mind?
Watching Muslim-Arabic males hang out with American girls was refreshing. They didn’t talk or flirt with any sexual intention.

How have you changed since last summer?
I have learned to learn more on a peer-to-peer basis. When I read about a culture, I will still try to learn about it from a real person.

Janet Landry, 16, Carrollton

What was the highlight?
Our jeep tour of Wadi Rum, a mountainous region in the southern desert in Jordan. We rode through the desert, climbed up the side of a sand-covered mountain and watched the sunset.

What surprised you most?
Muslim women wear a hijab out of their personal choice. I had always thought it was against women’s rights, but Muslim girls said they chose to wear the head scarf so people would judge their minds, not appearance.

Who changed your mind?
After hearing firsthand accounts of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I became neutral. Beforehand, I was trying to pick sides. I am now open to new opinions.

What did you see that changed your mind?
When I saw how dedicated and enthusiastic King Abdullah, Queen Noor and Prince El Hassan are to support Seeds of Peace, this made me respect Jordan’s contribution to peace.

Leead VanGruber, 17, Dallas

What was the highlight?
Bringing Arabs and Americans to cultural understanding.

What surprised you most?
The Arabs and Americans didn’t make me change my views. They listened and respected my views.

Who did you meet who changed your mind?
Prince El Hassan. He changed my mind about the Arab-Israeli conflict when he said that education and understanding would make this conflict much easier to solve.

What did you see that changed your mind?
When we went to the city of Petra, there were many merchants who had their sons try to sell things with them. It gave me such a sad feeling to see a little boy on the streets trying to sell whistles and postcards so he could eat dinner.

How have you changed since last summer?
When I came back from Maine, I came back from a surreal world that had Arabs and Americans existing together peacefully. Now my dream and goal is to make this happen everywhere.

Autumn Reeves, 17, Kennedale

What was the highlight?
I would love to say visiting the ancient Roman city of Jerash, meeting the King of Jordan, meeting Queen Noor. And it’s true; all the people we met were awesome. But the highlight was just the conversations. There is nothing more amazing than having the opportunity to talk openly with so many diverse people.

What surprised you most?
How down-to-earth and real the Jordanian royalty seemed. The king took time out of his busy schedule just to see us. Queen Noor had us at her home.

Who changed your mind?
After hearing from two older “Seeds,” Leena, a Palestinian, and Ran, an Israeli, I realized how right both sides are.

What did you see that changed your mind?
I didn’t think Jordan would be so Westernized, but they go to McDonald’s and Pizza Hut. I also was pretty surprised to see a lot of churches. Even after learning there are so many Christian Arabs, I never made the connection.

How have you changed since last summer?
I see the bigger picture. It’s time our generation has, as one of my Iraqi friends said, “peace, security and the right to live our lives.”

Casey Zager, 15, Longview

What was the highlight?
Listening to Prince El Hassan. He said Arab countries need to stop blaming other countries for their problems.

What surprised you most?
When I realized that Iraqis don’t dislike us. They just want what’s best for their country.

Who changed your mind?
The Iraqi teens. I thought they would be really anti-Bush and anti-American. Then they showed us a presentation with pictures of women with their hands dipped in ink for voting. One picture showed two kids playing with a burning building behind them. I realized their life is very hard.

What did you see that changed your mind?
I figured they would be praying all the time and that would be strange. But when I heard the call to prayer, and I saw all these people walking to the mosque, I thought it was really cool. It seemed as if everyone was hearing the same preaching at the same time. I enjoyed that.

How have you changed since summer?
I used to really support the war. I still agree with it, but I think we could have gone about it in a different way that would have been better for the Iraqis.

Yazid Al Saeedi, 17, Sanaa, Yemen

What was the highlight of your trip?
The people, because we got to build off the bonds we created at camp and make new bonds with people whom we weren’t close to originally.

What surprised you most?
I never knew that Jordan is rich with history and culture.

Who did you meet who changed your mind?
The Palestinian and Israeli speakers, because I got to listen to both sides.

How have you changed since last summer?
I had never been to a church, and I had a totally wrong idea about Christianity and how Christians pray. But the major change was in the way I think about other people. I learned that I shouldn’t judge people unless I know them well. I also used what I learned to change people around me.

Shatha Salim Bandak, 16, Amman, Jordan

What was the highlight?
Visiting the royal family and especially King Abdullah. He spoke to us about peace and about accepting people—the things we are trying to do.

What surprised you most?
The fact that Americans not only liked Jordan but had no problems whatsoever to live there. That made me look at my country in a more respectful and appreciative manner.

Who did you meet who changed your mind?
At dialogue, I debated a lot with a Jewish Seed who is sort of against Palestinians! When I heard what he had to say and knew him as a person, I could understand where his hostility against Palestinians comes from. So the reality of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has become clearer in my head having heard the opposite point of view. I was able to make a new friend who is against my beliefs but is still a friend.

How have you changed since last summer?
I have become more understanding, and I accept people of all beliefs and thoughts even if they are against me. Peace starts by a smile to your enemy. Do you think this is a small thing? Then you should try it, in your own society, and you will feel how wonderful it is to try and make peace with your enemies. After that, you can’t stop yourself, and you’ll always try and work for peace simply because it feels really good.

TAKING ACTION What else has changed for the Dallas teens since last summer? Janet Landry headed a “Books for Baghdad” effort with her fellow Dallas teens that has already collected 750 books and supplies for Iraqi schools in need. It’s part of a city-to-city program in which the Dallas teens have been paired with Iraqi teens. Meanwhile, the Iraqi Seeds of Peace teens co-founded a group called “The Hope.” They created a video to educate the public about life in Iraq, from the war to the first election and other recent events.

Read Nancy Churnin’s first story, One teen at a time »

Teen camp narrows gap between Arabs, Americans
Associated Press

Aug 28, 2004 / No Comments

BY RYAN LENZ | OTISFIELD, MAINE An Iraqi girl clung to a bat and waited nervously for the pitch. She had practiced running bases and knew the basics of the game. Her eyes widened, her shoulders tensed, and she swung. Campers at Seeds of Peace rose to their feet and cheered as she hit a grounder and rounded first base. A small barrier had fallen in the effort to teach the 15-year-old to play America’s favorite pastime.

Over the past 11 years, Seeds of Peace has focused on bringing together Israeli and Arab teenagers in search of common ground. This summer, the camp’s mission is expanding as American teens and their counterparts from Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia explore the rift between Arabs and Americans that widened after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

“We asked ourselves in the early ’90s what would replace the Cold War? The answer came on a beautiful day in September 2001,” said Aaron David Miller, Seeds of Peace president. ”

But even before 9/11, the depths of misunderstanding between Arabs and Americans were profound.” Many of the camp’s activities are geared toward building teamwork and trust between cultures that are avowed enemies. For example, an exercise this summer linked two campers from countries at conflict for a “trust walk” in the woods. With one camper blindfolded, the two walked hand-in-hand over rough terrain with only one able to see what was ahead. Blindfolded campers had to rely on the other for every move.

Previous sessions brought together youths from India and Pakistan, Cypriot Turks and Greeks, and Bosnian Muslims and Serbs. Despite security restrictions—state troopers guard the entrances—the camp’s model remains: Give campers a glimpse at normalcy in a setting where nationalities mean nothing and policies pertain only to camp activities such as swimming, photography, soccer and dancing. Most of the time, thoughts of the U.S. military presence in Iraq seem far away during the daily routines of camp, but the campers’ fears come into the open in closed-door dialogue sessions and late night bunkhouse chats.

A Saudi Arabian teenager turns somber as he reflects on events following the terrorist attacks in the United States.

“I knew, from that moment on, whoever did that is fighting in the name of Islam,” said 15-year-old Abdullellah Osama Darandary. “And every time I come to America and say I’m a Saudi, people are kind of shaken inside. That’s why I have this fear inside of me.”

Being questioned about his nationality upon entering the United States added to Darandary’s fears, he said. But those fears dissolved at the camp.

As for the Iraqis, they were quiet at first, but soon talked openly about the fighting in Iraq and their fears of Americans.

“They’re talking more directly about life in war,” said Eva Gordon, a counselor who shares a room with one of the Iraqi girls.

Seeds of Peace staffers are protective of campers, especially the first contingent from Iraq: three girls. Fearing for their safety when they return to Iraq, they have requested they not be named or photographed.

“Their perception of their own security is everything,” said Miller, a former U.S. State Department adviser. “It forms everything that they will do from here.”

But the discussions don’t always center on international issues, said Ash Wright, 16, of San Diego, who shares a bunk with another Iraqi girl at camp. They talk about “what they do over there, and what we do over here.”

The session in Maine draws to a close at the end of summer, but the group will meet in Jordan next March for the second part of the program which focuses on giving Americans an Arab perspective.

Wright said she planned to attend next year’s session. “I feel no tension here at all. I feel no hate,” she said. “If this could be how the world was, we would have no problems at all.”

Camp provides Mideast and Cypriot youth with tools for peace
Washington File (US Department of State)

Aug 13, 2004 / No Comments

BY ERIN BLOCK | WASHINGTON What is only a dream for most of those living in the Middle East became a reality for about 170 of the region’s youth. For the past three weeks, the Seeds of Peace camp has helped forge peaceful dialogue and even friendships between teens from conflicting nations.

Campers traveled from Egypt, Tunisia, Cyprus, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Qatar, Jordan and across the United States to rural Maine for the camp.

Seeds of Peace is an organization working to dissolve animosity between nations in conflict by bringing together young people from both sides. The organization builds peace through people-to-people contact, giving the “other” an actual face and name.

“Talking, listening and understanding the other side is a rare opportunity that I might not experience again. This camp is not a regular camp. This camp is different because of its value. It’s different because of its quality, and it’s different for its strong purpose,” said Tomer, a member of the Israeli delegation.

Campers were welcomed to the State Department for a reception on August 10. Talking about their experiences with fellow Seeds and State Department officials, the campers vowed to continue their work toward peace when they return home.

“I am going home stronger and wiser thanks to all of my fellow campers. I know that it’s not going to be easy because when I go home I will still be in a country that is separated in two. But I know that people through Seeds of Peace are continuing to try. And I am going home to make a change,” said Natalia, a member of the Cypriot delegation.

One camper hopes to return to his homeland, Qatar, and open a Seeds of Peace office.

“It won’t be easy, but if you believe in something you have to work hard. I believe in peace and I will work hard to achieve it,” said Nasser, a member of the Qatari delegation.

Aaron Miller, the organization’s President, urged the campers to inspire their family and friends and community using school presentations and working within the community.

“There is no more important group than all of you seeds,” said Miller, who is also a former State Department official who worked on the Arab/Israeli conflict.

Secretary of State Colin Powell also addressed the group. He thanked the Seeds for beginning the road toward peace and doing what no “parchment treaty between governments” can do. “Real, lasting peace will spring from the transformed hearts of human beings,” said Powell. “When people share the ideas and feelings that make them human, when they laugh together, even when they argue face to face, then peace has a chance because dialogue is underway.”

At the Seeds of Peace International Camp youth live together in cabins, share meals, have numerous dialogue sessions, known as “coexistence sessions,” and participate in other activities such as group challenges, arts programs and a cultural night. Coexistence sessions helped the campers talk about difficult issues.

“The dialogue sessions were most interesting because you heard the other side and saw from their point of view. I now look at things differently because I remember how they see it,” said Yael Israeli, a member of the Israeli delegation.

Firaas Deak, a Palestinian-American and member of the U.S. delegation said that dialogue sessions helped create a picture, a “day in the life” of each member in his coexistence group.

“I could see both sides of the situation and understand what all of us actually go through,” said Deak.

The group challenge activities, an aside to coexistence sessions, were the most rewarding for Moran Danieli, a Seed from the Israeli Delegation. During these sessions, groups participate in challenges, such as rope climbing, to help reinforce trust, team spirit, cooperation, and communication. The group challenges help to strengthen bonds between coexistence group members.

“When my coexistence group would do a mission together, we had to be united,” said Danieli. “One time the challenge was to climb up a 30-foot cable. I was climbing up with a Palestinian girl and we were both scared, but we needed to get through it together. I needed to help her and she needed to help me.”

Color Games, often a favorite camp program, is the 3-day culminating event at the Seeds of Peace camp. The camp is divided into two multi-national teams, blue and green and they compete in a range of activities from sports and fine arts to music, drama and cooking contests.

“I saw people trusting each other, helping each other, and working side by side to achieve a common goal. We were all seeds, all humans and all part of the same group working together,” said Ismail Balma, a member of the Tunisian delegation.

Acting Under-Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Patricia Harrison, addressing the Seeds of Peace delegates at the State Department, said “[Seeds of Peace] could just as well be called seeds of hope. The seeds that you all are hoping to plant are seeds of prosperity and freedom for the future.”

Seeds of Peace is a non-profit, non-political organization focused on building foundations of peace in regions of conflict. As of 2004, participants have come from the Middle East, the Balkans and South Asia.

The roots of peace: Program fosters unlikely friendships
Roll Call

Jul 19, 2004 / No Comments

BY LIZA GUTIERREZ | Hazem Zanoun clearly remembers his first, terrifying encounter with Israelis in 1997. “I was scared to fall asleep because my imagination led me to think the Israelis would try to hurt me,” he said.

He is not describing a confrontation in his homeland of Gaza, but his first night at a summer camp in the United States where he was bunking with Israeli teenagers. He laid with his back to the wall so that he could keep an eye on them, he said.

Zanoun was participating in a program sponsored by the Seeds of Peace, a nonprofit organization that brings teenagers from conflicting countries together to help ease tensions and foster friendships. Arab students, as well as Israelis, Indians and Pakistanis, are united to cultivate cultural understanding and accomplish what their countries’ leaders have been unable to for decades.

Founder John Wallach, now deceased, created the organization after the first attack on the World Trade Center in February 1993. That summer, a group of more than 40 students from the Middle East came together at the campgrounds in Otisfield, Maine. The program has grown to include almost 500 participants in 2004, including a small percentage of Americans, which are divided among three camp sessions.

About 200 graduates from the first summer session ended their journey with a trip to Capitol Hill last week. They met National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Members of Congress to discuss their camp experience and present their hopes for the future.

Lionel Daich, a 16-year-old Israeli, said he thought he would attend camp to change the Palestinians’ perspectives. But his interaction with them made him re-evaluate his own views. Daich said the program helped open his eyes to the Palestinian struggle.

“It helps me want to negotiate more and find solutions,” he added.

The students were an inspiration for Seeds President Aaron David Miller when he worked as a Middle East peace negotiator for the State Department.

“During periods of intense negotiation and frustration, I would go to Maine to talk to the kids and re-energize myself,” Miller said.

It was amazing to watch them overcome differences in a way their leaders could not, Miller said. Campers learn leadership skills such as conflict-resolution and empathy, Miller said.

They also participate in coexistence sessions led by facilitators, where they learn more about each other and discuss controversial issues, Zanoun explained.

“It can get very emotional, and people end up crying or leaving the session,” Zanoun said. He added that students ultimately learn to work through it.

One student from Jordan who visited Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) raised some tough questions about the history of Arab-Israeli negotiations. Berman said he tries to limit the amount of time spent discussing history because each side has its own version of what happened. He added that those involved may not be able to reconcile the past, but they can try to reconcile the present and the future. Berman expressed hopes that in 10 or 20 years, these students will have some influence in their communities and chart a better course.

“I would like to believe that [the program] leaves a lasting impression with most of the participants,” he said.

According to Miller, 15 percent to 20 percent of the organization’s budget comes from federal money administered through Congressional appropriations. Other funding comes from private donations, corporations and foundations. Applicants are chosen by government leaders from their country based on their leadership potential.

“It’s really a process, not just a camp,” Miller said.

Some students continue to work at Seeds as peer advisers or camp counselors. Others participate in internship programs coordinated by Seeds when they enter college. Zanoun, now 21 and attending the University of Southern Maine, is interning on Capitol Hill to learn more about the U.S. political process.

Establishing connections with Israelis initially exposed Zanoun to harsh criticism from his friends back home. He said some of them thought he was collaborating with the Israelis and no longer believed in the Palestinian cause. Zanoun said he tried to convey to them that Israelis are “just like us”—they want to have families and live in peace and security.

The organization is starting a pilot program this summer that will focus on cross-cultural and political issues facing Arabs and Americans. About 20 adult leaders and educators from both ends of the spectrum will accompany a group of 60 students as they spend time in the United States and Jordan.