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Iraqi and Saudi youth to join other Arab and American young leaders at Seeds of Peace program in Maine

Jun 8, 2004 / No Comments

OTISFIELD, MAINE | Sixty-five American and Arab teenagers will join together at the Seeds of Peace Camp in Otisfield, Maine, this weekend to begin a groundbreaking new exchange program, to build relationships, reduce misunderstanding and forge cooperation at a critical time in the Arab-American relationship. Beyond Borders: Arabs and Americans in the 21st Century will bring together 65 teenagers as well as 25 adult educators from across the United States, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait and Yemen to begin a multi-year program of leadership development, co-existence training and dialogue. (See background information below.)

Beginning on August 14, these young leaders will begin two weeks of intensive dialogue and discussion designed to bridge gaps in political, cultural and social misunderstanding. The session will culminate in a two-day trip to Boston ending with an event at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum on Sunday, August 29.

“We are very excited about beginning this new program to help bridge the gaps in understanding and respect between Americans and the Arab world,” said Seeds of Peace president Aaron David Miller, who spent 25 years as a Middle East peace negotiator for the U.S. State Department. “These young people will be future leaders in their communities and countries, and we are working with them now to provide an environment in which they can accomplish this.”

The participants were selected with the assistance of LeadAmerica in the U.S. and AMIDEAST in the Middle East based on their leadership potential. The selection process included interviews and application essays. Beyond Borders will be part of a multi-year effort with the participants to learn about each other’s countries and cultures and bring that understanding back home. Following Camp and before the group reconvenes in Jordan, an Arab delegation and American delegation will be paired together and participate in jointly designed projects such as service-learning and school presentations. As the participants grow up to be leaders in their respective communities and countries, with the help of Seeds of Peace, it is expected that these program graduates will be committed to working toward further understanding and coexistence.

This new Beyond Borders program builds on the 10-year effort by Seeds of Peace to bring together Israeli and Palestinian teenagers, as well as youth from four other conflict regions including South Asia, Cyprus and the Balkans. By the end of this summer, nearly 3,000 future leaders will have been through the Seeds of Peace program. Most of the teens remain involved with Seeds of Peace into their adult years through year-round follow-up activities at the Seeds of Peace Center for Coexistence in Jerusalem and through other ongoing regional program activities.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: SEEDS OF PEACE: “BEYOND BORDERS” Arabs and Americans in the 21st Century Seeds of Peace, renowned for its international leadership programs, announces a groundbreaking exchange between Arabs and Americans that provides the direct interaction and communication needed to foster understanding and cooperation. A total of 65 young leaders and 25 adult educators from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Egypt, Jordan and across the United States will have the opportunity to travel abroad, live with their peers from around the world, and engage in serious, honest, and open discussions on the relationship between the United States and the Middle East. Participants are representatives of the geographic, ethnic, and religious diversity in the United States and the Arab world. The youth were selected primarily on the strength of their leadership potential, and the adults will be educators well-positioned to have a significant impact on their communities.

The program is comprised of two sessions:

IN THE UNITED STATES …

From August 14-30, 2004, 65 young leaders and 25 education officials from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Egypt, Jordan, Boston, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Atlanta will spend two weeks at the Seeds of Peace Camp in Maine. In Maine the group will have the opportunity to meet face-to-face, reach real common ground, discuss complex issues facing the global community and receive the training required to lead in all aspects of their society. Their experience will not only serve as the departure point for sustainable relationships and cooperation, but as an introduction to life in the United States. The program will culminate in Boston, exploring its historical, political, cultural, and educational sites.

IN THE MIDDLE EAST …

From March 11-19, 2005, the group will reconvene in Jordan for a week of seminars, continued cultural exchange, leadership training, and planning for continued activities. Seeds of Peace will use the foundation laid in Maine to continue building awareness and understanding between the groups. In discussions led by key Arab and American figures, the group will examine key themes relating to the relationship between the US and Middle East. The group will travel to various historical, political, cultural, and educational sites in Jordan as an introduction to life in an Arab country, while learning from their peers and experts about what life is like in other Arab countries. The program will culminate in Amman.

As tension in the Middle East increases, the relationship between Americans and Arabs grows even more strained. Trust, understanding, and confidence require deep engagement in dialogue, cultural exchange, and confidence-building measures that enable both groups to communicate effectively and demonstrate respect without regard to personal differences. It is imperative that this dialogue begin now, before the growing divide between these communities deepens and becomes embedded in successive generations.

Making Peace Personal
USA Today

Oct 9, 2002 / No Comments

BY NAFEESA SYEED | When Sarah and Taoufik Abalil decided to get married, people told them it was bound to fail.

“There was concern that our marriage would be strained by crazy politics or competing loyalties,” says Sarah Abalil, 27, a Jewish publications designer whose husband, 28, is a Muslim graduate student. “But every interfaith encounter has a period of adjustment and getting past the stereotypes.”

Despite the pressures, the Fremont, Calif., couple recently celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary. But it hasn’t always been easy. A few months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Sarah decided to organize an informal dialogue to educate people about each faith. The reception, though, was cool. Those she contacted were not ready to meet with “the other side” just yet.

Domestic and international incidents reflect a possibly growing tension among the faiths. The attorneys general for California, Nebraska and Texas report surges in hate crimes in the past year, largely a result of a post-Sept. 11 backlash against Muslims and Arabs. A man in Florida was charged with plotting to attack mosques. Anti-Semitic literature was found on lawns in Boston. And the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues to breed animosity.

“There is no doubt that tension and longstanding turbulence in other parts of the world transfer into relations in the United States,” says Diana Eck, professor of comparative religion at Harvard University and director of the school’s Pluralism Project. Conflict abroad ”affects friendships here and what people feel they can say even to their closest friends.”

But even in these troubled times, Eck says, she has seen efforts on the personal level to maintain Jewish-Muslim-Christian relations in the USA. ”All of us need to be able to sort out religious communities from political use of religious symbols to rally us to different causes,” she says. ”Friendships displace globalizing stereotypes.”

Positive relations, she says, usually don’t make headlines. Dawn Kepler of Oakland says that if it weren’t for her son Jesse’s best friend, Samir Belkacem, she probably would not know any Muslims. Samir’s father, Ali Belkacem, from Algeria, describes himself as a liberal Muslim; the boy’s mother, Lynne Haroun, is an American Christian. Kepler and her husband, Mark Snyder, are Jewish. The couples’ 11-year-old sons have been inseparable since preschool.

”I would never just walk up to them and say, ‘Tell me your life story,’ ” says Kepler, 47, who does outreach work with interfaith couples. ”But when you see them more, you start having more intimate conversations. How often do Muslim and Jews have repeated chances to interact?”

Both families say their varied faiths and cultural backgrounds are enriching. ”Samir has attended Shabbat services with them, and we’ve gone over during Passover,” says Belkacem, 47, who is a physicist and the boys’ soccer coach. ”There are so many similarities in the traditions.”

Kepler says: ”For me, having Ali as a friend is a wonderful thing. If you really want to know about Judaism or Muslims, you have to turn to someone; you can’t just read a book. I feel fortunate to have someone to open doors so I can see new things.”

Those at the International Camp for Conflict Resolution know what Kepler means. Every summer, the New York-based non-profit group Seeds of Peace brings together young people from troubled regions around the world to interact with peers from different backgrounds and learn peacemaking skills. This year, more than 450 teens attended the camp in Maine. The U.S. host delegates are selected by Seeds of Peace; other campers are chosen by their governments.

Amy Witt, 17, has been a member of the American delegation for two years. While growing up in a predominantly Jewish community in Chicago, Witt says, she generally heard only the Israeli side of the Middle East conflict. Her first time at camp was the first time she had ever met a Muslim.

”You begin to coexist,” she says. ”When others tell of their personal struggles and (you) hear stories you can’t ignore, you learn the enemy has a face. I left so many sessions in tears.”

Last year, Witt befriended fellow camper Iman Azzi, 18, a Muslim of Lebanese descent. Azzi, a native of Exeter, N.H., says the three-week camp creates intense friendships that allow participants to learn about other cultures.

Though the camp does not focus specifically on religion, it does allow kids to be exposed to other faiths. For example, ”Once they know a person likes P. Diddy like they do, they ask, ‘What else is below this person? Can I ask more questions and probe them?’ ” says Rebecca Hankin, a Seeds of Peace spokeswoman. ”They start asking why (he or she) keeps kosher or celebrates Ramadan, and they find out more about the person.”

But both Witt and Azzi say their communities are hesitant about reaching out. Azzi says she once told a Palestinian friend about a Jewish acquaintance, and the friend told her: ”You can’t do that. Don’t talk to him.”

Witt says, ”People don’t like the idea. Some people don’t like Arab-Israeli relationships. (They) have a really hard time seeing there are two sides. They say, ‘Your friends aren’t real.’ ”

Arab Christians often are caught in the middle. A Zogby International poll shows that 77% of Arab-Americans are Christians, and they tend to identify with the struggles of Arab Christians in the Middle East.

For Labib Kobti, pastor at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in San Francisco, interfaith relations are necessary to foster peace. The church serves a large number of Palestinians. He says many wonder whether peace is even possible, based on their personal experiences with Jews and Muslims.

”They’ve lost trust,” he says. ”But if I sit and watch, then I, too, will be cooperating in destroying our country. The least I can do is dialogue; at least then you are accomplishing something at a small level which could have a bigger effect.”

Though interfaith organizations can help initiate dialogue, Sarah Abalil believes personal relationships are even more important. ”It’s ultimately not going to hinge on an Oslo accord or a treaty. Peace has to start in people’s hearts—and that’s what I’m proud to be a part of.”

Bitter rivals come together at camp in woods of Maine
Associated Press

Jul 7, 2002 / No Comments

OTISFIELD, MAINE | Sapna Rasoul, a small, ponytailed girl, enjoys making friends and playing basketball at the Seeds of Peace Camp in the Maine woods, far from her native Afghanistan.

But as other girls splash around by the swimming dock, she’s thinking about being somewhere else: school.

Rasoul, 15, started attending school just six months ago after the Taliban’s rule came to an end. Education is a priority because she wants to help her people as a lawyer, or a judge, or a doctor.

“I miss my school,” she said from a bench overlooking an idyllic evergreen-framed view of Pleasant Lake.

The Seeds of Peace camp brings together teenagers from warring regions. This year, the campers include a dozen teenagers from Afghanistan, a country that has been at war with itself for years.

The Afghan teens have not known peace in their lifetimes.

The goal for most of the 160 campers attending the first summer session is to see the human face of their enemy. Those include Pakistanis, Indians, Palestinians, and Israelis, all of whom bunk, eat, and play together.

For the Afghans, the aim is different.

“Ideally, we’re hoping for them to open up, to get used to the idea of expressing themselves frankly and not be afraid someone is going to do something to their family because they said something,” said Bobbie Gottschalk, executive vice president of Seeds of Peace.

The Afghan campers have had to adjust since they landed in the United States. For many, it was their first trip on a plane and out of the country. Three of the girls, Gottschalk said, arrived dressed in burkas, the cloaklike coverings that many Muslim women wear and which were required by the Taliban.

A week later, they were outfitted in jeans, camp T-shirts, and sneakers, and learning about camp activities.

On a recent afternoon, Rasoul, who learned English in a clandestine school before the fall of the Taliban, translated as a counselor explained how the campers were supposed to navigate a series of tire swings. The girls gigged as they watched each other swing and grasp for the next tire.

“You must be monkey!” 16-year-old Weda Saghri said.

“Very delicious! Very beautiful!” 14-year-old Abida Attazada Ayda chirped with approval.

Afterward, the counselor, Annie Kelly, sat the girls down in a circle and asked them to talk about what they did well, what they could have done better, and what they learned about each other.

For campers from opposing sides of a conflict, these sessions foster teamwork and trust before they tackle the nearby rock-climbing wall where people entrust each other with their safety.

The Afghanistan program is still evolving and may end up being similar to one developed for Maine’s refugees.

“They had seen some terrible things,” Gottschalk said. “And when they came a few years ago, they looked like these kids from Afghanistan. They were traumatized, shut down.”

New mission for Seeds
Portland Press Herald

Jul 6, 2002 / No Comments

BY ANN S. KIM | OTISFIELD, MAINE Sapna Rasoul, a small ponytailed girl, enjoys making friends and playing basketball at the Seeds of Peace camp in the Maine woods, far from her native Afghanistan. But as other girls splash around by the swimming dock, she’s thinking about being somewhere else: school.

Rasoul, 15, started attending school just six months ago, after the Taliban’s rule came to an end. Education is a priority because she wants to help her people as a lawyer, or a judge, or a doctor. “I miss my school,” she said from a bench overlooking an idyllic evergreen-framed view of Pleasant Lake.

The Seeds of Peace camp brings together teenagers from warring regions. This year, the campers include a dozen from Afghanistan, a country that has been at war with itself for years.

The Afghan teenagers have never known peace. The Soviet invasion was followed by a bitter civil war, battling warlords and the restrictive rule of the Taliban. Now, coalition troops led by the United States are in their country, rooting out al-Qaida. The civil war flattened neighborhoods of the capital of Kabul, Rasoul’s home town, between 1992 and 1996.

The goal for most of the 160 campers attending the first summer session is to see the human face of their enemy. Those include Pakistanis and Indians, Palestinians and Israelis, all of whom bunk, eat and play together. For the Afghans, the aim is different.

“Ideally, we’re hoping for them to open up, to get used to the idea of expressing themselves frankly and not be afraid someone is going to do something to their family because they said something,” said Bobbie Gottschalk, executive vice president of Seeds of Peace.

The Afghan campers have had to adjust to a lot since they landed in the United States. For many, it was their first trip on a plane and out of the country. Three of the girls, Gottschalk said, arrived in burqas, the head-to-foot coverings required by the Taliban. A week later, they were outfitted in jeans, camp T-shirts and sneakers, and learning about camp activities.

On a recent afternoon, Rasoul, who learned English in a clandestine school before the fall of the Taliban, translated as a counselor explained how the campers were supposed to navigate a series of tire swings. The girls giggled as they watched each other swing and grasp for the next tire.

“You must be monkey!” 16-year-old Weda Saghri said.

“Very delicious! Very beautiful!” 14-year-old Abida Attazada Ayda chirped with approval.

Afterward, the counselor, Annie Kelly, sat the girls in a circle and asked them to talk about what they did well, what they could have done better and what they learned about each other. For campers from opposing sides of a conflict, these sessions foster teamwork and trust. Later, they tackle the nearby rock-climbing wall, where enemies entrust each other with their safety.

Their hair still wet from an afternoon dip, Roman Miraka and Mohammad Sanim Taib were bursting with talk. Taib, 14, struggled with his English but was eager to describe life under the Taliban’s interpretation of Islam.

“No television, no tape recorders. Just you go to mosque,” Taib said. “The time of Taliban not good. For man, (they asked) ‘Why you cut your mustache?’ He said, ‘You go to jail.’ ”

His mother, now a manager at a women’s hospital, was prohibited from holding a job. His father lost his job and came under suspicion because he had been a government finance official. Taib attended school, but English instruction was discouraged. His uncle taught him English secretly.

Miraka, also 14, described in rapid-fire English how his family moved from place to place, suffering through the years of fighting that followed the Soviet invasion in 1979. He said he was not afraid of the U.S. airstrikes after Sept. 11 because he was used to bombs and rockets. His goal, he said, is to forge relationships that will help shape a much different future for his war-torn country.

“I am so happy here. I have met so many people here, and they’re from many cultures,” the teenager said. “And when I go back to my country, I want to teach the peace.”

Sowing Peace
The Boston Sunday Globe

Aug 15, 1999 / No Comments

At Maine camp, Arab and Israeli youths hurdle barriers

BY CINDY RODRIGUEZ | OTISFIELD, MAINE Manal Abbas, 15, slipped into her sleeping bag, her heart booming in her chest. She stared at the wood-plank roof, scared of what the girls—the Israelis—sleeping next to her might do if she closed her eyes.

Manal, a Palestinian, lives in the crowded West Bank, where Arabs encounter Uzi-toting Israeli soldiers. She had never before met an Israeli girl. She only knew what family, friends, and Arab media pounded into her: Israelis are evil.

“What if one of them tries to stab me?” she thought.

Fear is common the first night at Seeds of Peace, a camp that brings Jewish and Arab teens from the cauldron of their Middle East homelands to an idyllic New England camp for a three-week odyssey of self-discovery and enlightenment. But the next morning when the sun shimmers through the tall pines here, and they are alive to feel its warmth, they open their eyes to a jolting reality: Not all Arabs are terrorists. Not all Israelis want to destroy Arabs.

And through the emotional 90-minute “coexistence sessions” where they scream “You stole my land!” and “Your people are terrorists!” they begin a process of transformation that directors here hope lasts a lifetime.

“I was skeptical coming here to meet Palestinians and Arabs in general,” said Yair Rachmani, a 15-year-old Israeli from Jerusalem. “But now I understand how they feel.”

After letting out their rage then teens eventually figure out that they cannot make progress without listening. As they see people they have viewed all their lives as enemies crying and shaking, they learn to empathize and realize they are not the only ones who have suffered. Both sides are victims.

“This may seem like a simple thing, but you have to understand that many of these boys and girls have never heard the other side,” said John Wallach, the camp’s founder and an American journalist who covered the Middle East for 20 years. Wallach calls the process detoxification. He said the teens are young enough, 13 to 16, where “hatred that is learned can be flushed out of their system.”

He says it is nearly impossible to do the same with adults.

“They have too much baggage,” he said.

Many of the adults who accompany the teens, serving as chaperones, cling to their own: Jew with Jew, Arab with Arab. It takes an intensive two-day program for the adults on Hurricane Island off Maine’s coast just to break the ice.

That is why, in 1992, Wallach founded this program centered on young people who would return to their homelands as “ambassadors of peace.” They arrive from Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and other countries; about 450 teens divided among three sessions this summer.

On this sprawling camp overlooking Pleasant Lake northwest of Portland, the teens are full of energy during the day, enjoying the kinds of activities common to most camps. They spend their days on tennis, basketball, baseball, volleyball, archery, canoeing, and swimming. When they are playing, the only visible difference at this camp is that the Muslim girls cover their hair and that, in keeping with Islamic custom, the boys and girls swim separately.

At night, they tumble into their bunks, sometimes giggling as they recount their day’s memories. Other times, they keep debates alive well past midnight.

On Tuesday night, as the rest of the girls in their bunk slept, Manal and her Israeli friend, Adi Fassler, set a flashlight on the floor, illuminating their faces. Curled on their beds in their pajamas, they began debating who Arabs or Jews should get Jerusalem, a question that bitterly divides the region.

Manal: “If I had the power, I would take all of Jerusalem, especially East Jerusalem because it belongs to the Palestinians.”

Adi: “If I had the power, I would, too, but that’s not going to make peace.”

“But I’m just saying that if I …” Manal started.

Adi cut in: “I can’t agree with this. East Jerusalem is the most important place to Jewish people.”

Manal: “Just because they have holy places there, doesn’t mean they can’t come pray, just like the Christians.”

Manal and Adi never resolved their argument, which they say will continue for years. But they walk away from Seeds of Peace with a lesson in great demand back home: the ability to respect each other’s opinions.

“Agreeing is not the point. Agreeing to disagree is,” said Ramy Nagy, a 15-year-old Arab from Egypt who attended the camp for a second time. “This year, I am not screaming at all. Last year, I couldn’t stop screaming.”

The program has so impressed agencies in other countries that Wallach has been asked to create similar programs for Greek and Turkish Cypriot youths and one for youngsters from Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia.

This year the program cost $1.5 million, or $2,500 a youngster, all of it donated. Their parents help pay air fare. The program’s success is borne out by its expanding enrollment. The number of campers has grown tenfold since the 40 teens at the inaugural summer.

Today, the teens leave camp full of hope. They will head to Washington, D.C., to meet with US Secretary of State Madeline K. Albright tomorrow and Vice President Al Gore Tuesday, then return home.

There most will face criticism from those, including friends, who say they have been brainwashed. They will keep in touch with their newfound friends via e-mail and will try to visit each other. For some that will mean travelling in secret.

Manal says she will keep in touch with her close friend, Adi, the Israeli girl who lives just a few miles beyond the security checkpoints of the West Bank.

“I never though I could have a close friend like Manal,” Adi said.

Adi says now she knows why building peace is so difficult. She believes if adults and government leaders went through the same camp, they would learn to accept each other.

Linda Carole-Pierce, the director of the program, is realistic about what the camp can accomplish. No teen, she says, walks away dramatically altered.

“You dont change overnight,” she said. “But you can get confused. Confusion is good because it means you’re curious, that you want to know more.”

And that, she says, puts them leaps and bounds ahead of their governments.

Seeds of Peace to kick off 23rd summer of leadership program in Maine

Jun 15, 2015 / 1 Comment

Session for campers from the Middle East, South Asia, and US begins July 23

OTISFIELD, MAINE | Seeds of Peace is set to welcome young leaders from communities divided by conflict to kick off the 23rd summer of the Seeds of Peace Camp.

The first session of Camp begins on June 29, for over 110 teens ages 14-17 from across Maine as well as from Syracuse, New York. They will come together to tackle tensions within their schools and communities, from race and racism to immigration, policing, bullying, poverty, and education policy.

The second session begins on July 23 for over 180 Afghan, American, Egyptian, Indian, Israeli, Jordanian, Pakistani and Palestinian campers, who will participate in a flagraising ceremony to open the session and inaugurate three weeks of dialogue, leadership development, and relationship building across lines of conflict.

Adult educators from the same communities as the campers will also attend the second session of the Seeds of Peace Camp and participate in a parallel dialogue and professional development program.

The Camp will also host professional basketball players from the NBA who will conduct a hoops clinic for the campers on August 5 as part of the 14th Annual Seeds of Peace Play for Peace program.

Over the past 22 years, the Seeds of Peace Camp has graduated over 5,300 young leaders from communities divided by conflict as part of Seeds of Peace’s mission to inspire and cultivate new generations of leaders uniquely positioned to accelerate social, economic, and political changes essential for peace.

Media interested in covering Play for Peace or the July 23 Flagraising Ceremony in Otisfield should contact Eric Kapenga at eric@seedsofpeace.org.

Amid Turmoil, Friendship Blooms
The Hartford Courant

Apr 28, 1998 / No Comments

BY RACHEL GOTTLIEB | The tangled world around Nora Epstein and Bushra Jawabri blended into a simple background as the two concentrated on spelling out their dream with sugar on a restaurant table at a Jerusalem mall.

“Bushra + Noa = Peace.”

What would peace mean for these teens who live less than an hour apart in vastly different worlds?

Bushra, 16, who lives in al-Arroub, a Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Hebron, “will be able to walk around without soldiers looking over her shoulder. And she can say she comes from somewhere,” says Noa, 14, who lives in Mevasseret Zion, a comfortable Jewish suburb.

And for Noa, Bushra’s Israeli friend?

“To be able to walk in the town center without being worried about being blown up. And for me it’s to be able to see my friend without making such a to-do.”

It was a to-do indeed to bring together these two girls who became friends at the Seeds of Peace Camp in Maine last summer. The camp, started by award-winning journalist John Wallach, a former White House correspondent, with support from former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, is set in neutral Maine. There, Israeli, American, Palestinian, Jordanian, Egyptian and other Arab children can hash out differences and find common ground for lasting friendships.

Wallach, who lives in Washington, Conn., said he sold his house and his art collection to start the camp in 1993 after an Islamic fundamentalist group bombed the World Trade Center in New York.

“I said, ‘Where is the response to that? There’s nothing that exists to promote hope instead of fear.’”

At camp, the teens—who communicate in English—“plumb the depths of their hatreds and fears of each other,” Wallach says. And there’s plenty of that: “These are children of war.”

But precisely because they are children, says Peres, they look forward, not backward: “Children are not overburdened by old memories, old hatreds. They are fresh.

Just days earlier, Bushra’s family had prepared a lavish meal for Noa. But Wesleyan University graduate Ned Lazarus, 24, the Seeds of Peace coordinator in Jerusalem, decided recent clashes between Palestinians and Israelis made it too dangerous to bring Noa along.

Bushra had visited Noa’s house during Hanukkah, but this would have been Hoa’s first visit to Bushra’s. Both were deeply disappointed.

The lovely dinner was served anyway and Bushra and her family offered a tour of their home and the camp where 6,000 Palestinians live.

Along the narrow pathways, children play in the streets, and passing cars honk to clear the way. The concrete courtyard in a school for girls has basketball hoops, and boys play volleyball and handball at a recreation center. Young scouts learn to play drums in the open air, and their practices can be heard throughout the camp. They take turns with the drums because there aren’t enough for everyone.

The library has bare bookcases except for a few dusty reference books. Residents take turns using the camp’s one phone.

There is high unemployment among the many laborers who live in the camp, and many houses are in poor condition. Rocks hold down zinc roofs on some structures. There is no central heat.

But conditions have improved since Bushra’s father, Ismael Jawabri, was born in a tent 44 years ago. Permanent structures have replaced the tents, and neighbors help each other build additions.

Bushra’s family has been working on an addition since 1992. The landing on the second floor is still dirt, and there is no furniture in the nearly finished rooms.

Over dinner, Ismail Jawabri, known in his community as Abu Tareq (father of Tareq, his son’s name), talks about his pride in Bushra’s accomplishments and her comportment. Residents in the refugee camp, he said, have trouble understanding why he allows her to attend the Seeds of Peace camp.

Some say, “‘OK, Abu Tareq, I know you are a smart man, buy why do you send your daughter to sleep outside?’” he says, “Here it is not good to send your daughter outside. But I am very proud of her. Look at Bushra. She is a brilliant girl—even her teachers are very proud of her. She obtains good marks. She behaves well. This is the girl that represents a Palestinian woman

Sitting in her living room, Bushra talks about her life. Anecdotes about soldiers dominate her tales—like the time she saw a woman get shot in the camp when she tried to stop a soldier from taking a boy to prison. “A girl got shot, too, because she was near.”

Dinner ends shortly after sunset when Bushra and her family warmly kiss their guests goodbye.

Thoughts of the peaceful dinner fade within moments. The camp’s exit is blocked with boulders, and young Palestinian men prepare to light a tire on fire and throw rocks at an army jeep about to pass. Lazarus and Sami al-Jundi, 35, a Palestinian man who drives for Seeds of Peace, leap from the van to negotiate passage past the blockade.

“If Noa had come and she told her mother about this, that would be the last Seeds of Peace kid to come here,” Lazarus declared.

Later; Lazarus revised his strategy for the girls to meet. The following week, he and al-Jundi brought Bushra from the camp to Noa’s house. The reunion was joyful—lots of hugs and kisses. Bushra gave Noa a traditional Palestinian dress, and Noa promised to wear it to school. “This is the happiest moment,” Noa said.

Then it was off to the mall. On the way, the two chatted about friends from camp and about school and the snow the day before—a rare event. Bushra told Noa she was missed at dinner. And she inquired about Noa’s older sister, 19-year-old Yael, who is a soldier and a ballerina. Noa told Bushra that Yael had asked about her, too.

At the entrance to the mall, a soldier stopped the van and questioned al-Jundi. Inside, the girls walked arm-in-arm picking out candy and looking in the shops. Although their lives are so different, the girls have much in common. Bushra is a scout leader for younger girls. And she dreams of becoming a doctor.

Noa tutors youths preparing for their bar mitzvahs. She paints, plays piano, sings and composed a song about peace. She isn’t sure about a career but fancies being Israel’s ambassador to Jordan or a professional pianist.

Both girls like to hang out with their friends. Bushra is restricted to keeping company with girls, while Noa has more freedom to spend time with boys.

The political reality the girls live in crept into their chatter when Bushra noticed soldiers in the mall and explained how the soldiers at the camp hassle her and her friends when they leave for school.

Noa had trouble relating to Bushra’s experiences. “It’s confusing—my brother and sister are soldiers”, she said later. The Palestinians “probably see them as monsters.”

“We heard terrible stories at camp about how the soldiers came to their houses and took their fathers. I mean, we see on TV that the soldiers shoot at them, but they throw stones and the use slingshots.

“The army is something we were brought up to be very proud of. Especially after the ’67 war—you couldn’t say anything bad about the army
 Suddenly you get the other side of it
 Now, it’s becoming something you can criticize.”

Bushra was concerned that she might have offended Noa with her talk of the army. Her opinions about soldiers don’t shade her fondness for her friend. She loves Noa, she said. “She understands us. She sympathizes with all the Palestinians.”

The first week in May, as Israel celebrates its 50th anniversary, 75 Seeds of Peace children—including Noa and Bushra—will meet in Switzerland to write a peace treaty. Lazarus thinks Israel will close its borders, anticipating attacks from terrorists. So the Palestinian children will have to spend several days in a hotel in East Jerusalem to ensure they make it to the airport.

The children’s peace treaty will say to leaders: “If we can do it, then why can’t you?” Wallach said.

Seeds of Peace “is clearly needed,” Peres said. The children have an important role in forging peace. “It’s the same role as seeds—growing the future.”

Seeds of Peace strives to fit in with our local area
The Advertiser Democrat (Maine)

Nov 19, 1997 / No Comments

OTISFIELD | Now that Seeds of Peace has committed itself to a long stay in Otisfield, directors hope to make the international conflict-resolution camp a part of the local fabric.

“I hope the community will reach out [to the camp],” said John Wallach, Seeds of Peace founder and president, during a recent visit to the camp property.

When Seeds of Peace operated out of Camp Androscoggin in Wayne in the summers of 1995 and 1996, that town organized a special community day at the municipal center to welcome the teenaged Arab and Israeli campers, said Wallach. This summer, as the program returns to the former Camp Powhatan site where it began in 1993—and where the Seeds of Peace International Camp will be permanently based—Wallach hopes that those in the Oxford Hills will be equally receptive.

To welcome the community to the camp, Seeds of Peace plans to host one or two open houses this summer, said Wallach. They will most likely take place on a Sunday afternoon.

And for those who wish to become involved with the program on a greater level, and enjoy a true learning experience, Seeds of Peace is looking for some area residents to serve as hosts to the adult delegation leaders who will travel to the U.S. with the teens in July. Each delegation of 50-60 youths is accompanied by two to five adults, all accomplished in their home countries, who join the young participants at the camp only during meals, said Wallach.

“Where the community can be of enormous help … is to kind of help us entertain these people,” he said. “We would love it if some people from the area would welcome them into their homes.”

Seeds of Peace hopes to help these adults, many of whom are visiting the U.S. for the first time, explore Maine and “Americana” by organizing related trips and programs during their three-week stay, said Wallach. Bates College, in Lewiston, for example, has agreed to host a one-week course for the delegation leaders; the initiative would welcome other suggestions or assistance in arranging trips.

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?

Camp strives to plant Seeds of Peace
The Bridgton News (Maine)

Jul 17, 1997 / No Comments

BY WAYNE E. RIVET | OTISFIELD As a foreign journalist, John Wallach once used words to describe the terror raging in the Middle East.

Now, Wallach uses words and a Maine summer camp to teach peace and help develop friendships between children who only see each other as their “enemy.” Through friendship and team work, Seeds of Peace strives to replace mistrust with respect and trust.

“As a journalist, I was simply a fly on the wall of history. I covered a lot of wars in my time, but I never felt completely fulfilled as a journalist. I always felt something was missing—that there had to be a better way to make a difference,” said Wallach, a former 30-year White House correspondent and foreign editor for The Hearst Newspapers. “I want to extend a message of hope to all the children, not one of despair.”

Seeds of Peace is John Wallach’s attempt to bring calm, understanding and hope to trouble spots such as the Middle East. While politicians try to hammer out peace accords and sign treaties, Wallach believes the one true way to achieve harmony is through understanding.

“When leaders sign a peace treaty, it’s only a piece of paper. It doesn’t change people’s attitudes,” he said. “Somebody has to do the work to make the peace a reality in people’s hearts. With the connections I’ve developed over the years as a foreign journalist, I strongly believe we can sow seeds of peace.”

After using a couple of Maine locations as the program’s home, Seeds of Peace will open to more than 175 Israeli and Arab teenagers at the former Camp Powhatan on Pleasant Lake in Otisfield. Teens arrive this Sunday for a four-week visit that will hopefully change their lives forever.

“Maine is such a beautiful spot. We cherish it because of its peace. It is our hope that these kids will find peace here too,” said Roger Deitz, a Seeds of Peace director who has a summer home in Casco. “Having vacationed here since I was a youngster, you could say Maine is in my blood. We strongly believe that through their experiences here, these children can develop some understanding and friendships that can change the world they live in.”

The Seeds of Peace Board of Directors recently approved leasing the former Camp Powhatan property for 10 years, thus creating a more permanent home for the program. While the camp needed a major upgrade, including a new waste-water system, Wallach is encouraged that the program can now continue to grow. Fifty-two boys attended the first peace camp in 1993. Now, boys and girls will venture to Otisfield, and the Seeds of Peace scope can be expanded. Although the program is funded solely through private donations (it costs about $600,000 to run the program since most campers receive $3,500 scholarships), organizers hope to bring together children from other war-torn countries, and possibly offer time to inner city kids of this country.

“Acquiring our own site, which will be known as the Seeds of Peace International Camp, has been central to our vision from the beginning,” Wallach said. “It opens up a tremendous range of possibilities, including operating an expanded program that might someday involve hundreds of young people each summer. With the precarious situation in the Middle East, the need for peace becomes more critical with each passing day. Our greatest hope is with the next generation of Arab and Israeli leaders.”

By day, the camp is like many others in the Lake Region. There will be smiles brought forth by sporting events and other fun activities. Kids will eat and sleep together. By night, Seeds of Peace will be a different type of camp. With American, Arab and Israeli facilitators on hand, teens will learn conflict resolution and mediation skills along with empathy, respect, confidence and hope—the building blocks for peaceful coexistence. They will take a hard, close look at their peers to discover for themselves just who the so-called enemy really is.

“Most of these kids have never interacted with each other before,” Wallach said. “They were too busy fighting. We get these kids together so they can build a new foundation for peace. Forget the older generation. They’ve been fighting for years. The only chance we have is building the next generation before they begin to hate.”

Seeds of Peace is working. In 1996, King Hussein invited Seeds of Peace to hold its first reunion in Jordan. Two hundred Arab and Israeli alumni participated in follow-up coexistence workshops, met ambassadors and toured historic sites.

What do the Seeds of Peace children think?

On the cover of the Seeds of Peace fifth anniversary brochure, Laith, a Palestinian, said, “Making peace is harder than making war. It takes time. It takes care. It takes patience.”

Daniel, an Israeli, said, “Only now can I really understand how important Seeds of Peace is. It was strong enough to change me, to create a new, better part inside me, to give me hope when most people have already begun to lose it.”

Friendships form, but teens realize the road of peace will remain rocky because of hate and history that exists within their families. Yet, there is hope—something John Wallach believes can be passed along to future generations because the seed of peace has been planted.