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Discovering our common humanity
Cleveland Jewish News

Jan 31, 2003 / No Comments

“Out Beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” -Mevlana Jalal e-Din Rumi, philosopher

BY BILLY GOLDBERG | The world is far from perfect. People are murdered, including young children and infants, because of the nation they call their home or the greater being they call their G-d. Even though terrible things like this occur, this “field” Rumi the philosopher spoke of does exist. I know, because I’ve been there.

The “field” is a summer camp called Seeds of Peace, located in the tiny city of Otisfield, Maine. Founded in 1993 by the late journalist John Wallach, Seeds of Peace is a place where teenagers from regions of conflict around the world come together with the same hope, to one day live in a world without violence.

The camp is a detoxification process, Wallach said, for the hatred that has infiltrated our world. He taught that it isn’t about working miracles. Instead, it’s about taking the time to find out that the enemy has a face.

Every summer, teenagers come from Israel, the West Bank, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Qatar, Serbia, Tunisia, Turkey, Yemen, and the U.S. to meet at the campgrounds. Last summer, I had the opportunity to attend.

During each of the two three-and-a-half week sessions, about 160 teenagers come together to play, talk, yell, cry, laugh and learn. No subject is closed for discussion. Seeds of Peace doesn’t shy away from tough arguments about what is happening in the world today. Instead, it promotes the chance for people with completely different ideologies to try to understand the other side. And the process works. Within a matter of days, for example, I witnessed Israelis and Palestinians opening up to each other about how their lives have been changed by conflict and violence. Indians and Pakistanis spoke to one another with utter honesty about issues of territory and freedom.

I tried to absorb as much information as possible. I knew that what I was hearing and witnessing was something few others get a chance to experience. One discussion from camp still stays in my mind, especially in light of the recent suicide bombings in Tel Aviv. A group of us—two Israelis, two Palestinians, an Egyptian and I—were talking about a suicide bombing that had just occurred in Israel. The conversation became very intense.

One of the Israelis, in tears, yelled to one of the Palestinians, “Tell me that you want peace. I need to hear you say that you don’t want these bombings to continue!”

The Palestinian stood there for a minute and then he said, “I want peace just as much as you do.”

Many might think that Seeds of Peace is a purely idealistic organization that cannot possibly create a lasting effect. I do not agree. Seeds of Peace targets young adults who will eventually have a part in shaping history. Any effort to do this is not only realistic; it is imperative.

After 10 summers of Seeds of Peace, the world is not yet cured. Hatred and ignorance still exist. Until they are gone, we still can all meet in the “field.”

Peacemaker Hero: John Wallach
My Hero

Sep 9, 2007 / No Comments

On July 10, 2002, Seeds of Peace Founder and President John Wallach died of cancer. Janet Wallach, who accepted the role of Interim President, wrote in an August letter that “John fought the disease as courageously as he fought for peace.”

In January 2003, Aaron David Miller became President of Seeds of Peace. Miller is a scholar and historian specializing in the Middle East and over the past twenty years has advised six Secretaries of State on Middle East policy.

Read an exclusive My Hero interview with two Seeds of Peace members!

As a foreign correspondent in the Middle East for two decades, John Wallach had already witnessed numerous instances of violent conflict. But it was the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center that made Wallach give up journalism and change the course of his life.

Where the terrorists had instilled fear, Wallach decided, he would inspire its best antidote—hope. At a dinner party in honor of Shimon Peres, Wallach made a toast to the Israeli Foreign Minister in the presence of envoys from Egypt and Palestine. During this toast, he proposed his idea for a summer camp in the United States where young people from each of the three nations would have the chance to meet one another.

“To be nice, they all accepted, probably not thinking I was serious.”

Wallach called their bluff. The next day he held a news conference, announcing that all three—the Israeli Government, the Egyptian Government and the PLO—had agreed to his plan.

With the help of partners Bobbie Gottschalk and Tim Wilson, Wallach planned the first Seeds of Peace camp. The three used their own money to initiate the project, which quickly attracted both publicity and outside financial support.

“That first summer we had 46 kids: Egyptians, Israelis and Palestinians,” says Wallach.

When then-First Lady Hillary Clinton visited the camp and heard from Seeds of Peace members whose relatives had been killed, she instantly became an ally. She called President Clinton and asked him to have the children present at the September 14, 1993 agreements between Yitzhak Rabin and Yassir Arafat.

By December 1999, 10,000 Americans had sent individual donations to SOP. In 2000, SOP launched the “Balkans Initiative” to involve young people from Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia, as well as a program for Turkish and Greek kids who were caught in the battle over the divided island of Cyprus.

The camp strives in every way to offer what the kids have never experienced: a neutral environment. In order to foster an atmosphere of tolerance, rituals are as inclusive as possible. On the first day, staff and campers stand outside the camp gates to raise the flag and sing the anthem of every member nation. The last flag raised is the SOP flag; the last song the SOP anthem. Campers eat together, share cabins, attend each other’s religious ceremonies and participate in the same social activities. They also attend coexistence sessions at camp where Palestinians, Israelis, Jordanians, and Egyptians talk about Jerusalem, sovereignty issues, terrorism, and the settlement of disputed territories.

“We teach listening skills,” says Wallach. “When you actually hear what your enemy is saying, you can begin to develop understanding and empathy for them. You need to get beyond the sense that you are the exclusive victim of the other side; no one has a monopoly on suffering. When both sides grasp that both are victims, a breakthrough becomes possible. You can actually break the cycles of violence.”

Seeds of Peace does not officially espouse or direct its members to take any particular viewpoint.

“Our mission statement is pretty simple,” explains Wallach. “What one side has, the other side has a right to demand for itself, whether that be statehood, security, justice or equality. We have always recognized the Palestinians as a separate entity, allowed them to fly their flag at our site next to the Israeli flag, permitted them to sing their anthem and say they come from Palestine, even though strictly it does not exist as a separate nation.” His personal view of an ideal political situation is equally simple: that Israel and Palestine “should coexist just like two human beings, and our kids, just as their nations, [should] recognize and accept each other.”

The camp only takes 450 kids every summer, so the selection process is competitive. Each nation’s Ministry of Education notifies its own schools to select candidates, who then have to write an essay explaining why they want “to make peace with the enemy.” SOP asks the parents only to pay as much of the airfare as they can, then picks up the rest of the costs. Camp is free. Wallach wanted governments involved in choosing participants because in this way they would “recognize that the peace treaty won’t mean anything unless there are people on the ground who believe in peace.” It also, he adds, ensures that the camp receives the “best and the brightest” through a democratic process.

In a 1999 radio interview, two Seeds of Peace members (identified only by their first names, Avigail and Bushra) talked about the ways camp had changed their lives. Avigail, an Israeli, said that “arriving at the camp was a very intense shock … no one knew how to treat each other. We came from home with a lot of prejudices that were hard to let go of.”

Bushra, who had grown up in a Palestinian refugee camp, recalled that her experience with Israelis was limited to seeing soldiers carrying guns around with them. Her initial experience was one of fear.

“At first it was frightening. My heart was beating, I was looking around, didn’t know what to do. I went [to camp] because my father encouraged me to go and meet the other side, hear what they want to say, and what they feel about us. It was very hard to discuss [coexistence] issues with Israelis because each side has its own historical facts … [but] I think it was important for me to hear that Israelis want to coexist with us. I couldn’t have believed that my best friend would be an Israeli.”

The post-camp experience presents a new set of challenges for SOP campers. They return to the world in which loyalties remain unchanged, opinions unchallenged. In order to visit her Israeli best friend from camp, Bushra found that she needed to get special permission from the government of Israel allowing her to cross the “border.” She also found that her new alliances made her old friends and neighbors suspicious.

“It was very hard explaining to my friends what I did in camp,” she said. “For the refugees it’s hard for them to believe in peace with the Israelis.”

Behind the emotional damage caused by strained loyalties lurks the ever-present danger of living with war. On October 2, 2000, seventeen-year-old Asel Asleh got in the middle of a confrontation between armed Israeli soldiers and rock-throwing Palestinians. Asleh, a Palestinian who had just returned from SOP camp, was shot and killed.

The Seeds of Peace flag flies at half-mast for Asel Asleh, killed after returning home from camp. While SOP staff are barred from attending political demonstrations, the organization does not sanction its members from doing so. Asel Asleh’s unexplained presence in that fatal skirmish might have aroused doubts about his devotion to peace, but his Israeli and Palestinian friends voiced no such doubts, eulogizing him in the highest terms on the SOP Web site. The unfettered response to Asleh’s death testifies to the quality of the friendships forged at camp. The tragedy itself, on the other hand, points up the need for maintaining a strong network of former campers.

“The support system is enormously important,” says Wallach. A 5000-square-foot Center for Coexistence in Jerusalem, with a permanent staff of eight people, now actively fosters continued relationships among former campers. The center offers workshops, reunions, and drama, art and photography classes taught by both Israeli and Palestinian teachers. Staff members also help the kids obtain permission to travel across hostile borders to visit their new friends. At Seedsnet, a secure Web site, kids can communicate with each other. SOP also puts out a monthly newsletter, The Olive Branch, and holds a youth conference every year.

What has most surprised Wallach is “how much the rest of us can learn from these kids. Those who live with terror every day … are far more mature than American youth.” He hopes that one day an Israeli and Palestinian will graduate from the Seeds of Peace program, become elected leaders, and return to the SOP camp in Maine for their first summit meeting.

“All of them are capable of leading the rest of us. That’s the biggest surprise. We don’t spend enough time listening to [youth] and allowing them to lead.”

On November 9, 2001 Seeds of Peace hosted a conference in New York City on the roots of terrorism. Over 150 attendees from 22 Balkan and Middle Eastern countries spent five days discussing the causes of terrorism. They then drafted a charter outlining ways to prevent terrorism and presented it to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan at a concurrent meeting of the UN General Assembly.

It is unclear whether or not this charter will directly impact Middle East politics. What is undeniable, however, is that by giving people a chance simply to create this document, John Wallach has already succeeded in his goal of offering hope. As Avigail says, “The important thing is not the treaties that are signed at camp but that people go through this experience. Once you go through it you can’t let it go, because you have seen a reality that could be the reality back home. We come back from camp with so much motivation, and so much belief [in] peace.”

Read Susannah Abbey’s interview on My Hero Project »

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

Apr 26, 1998 / No Comments

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

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

(Applause.)

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

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

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

(Applause.)

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

(Laughter.)

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

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

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

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

(Applause.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you very much.

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

In a tense Jerusalem, an inside look at the city’s youth movement for peace | The Times of Israel

Oct 16, 2022 / No Comments

On an organization that equips young Israelis and Palestinians to build trust and confront a generational conflict together

By Avi Meyerstein

By the time I got to the large community building just steps from Jerusalem’s Old City walls on a cool December evening last year, I had been waiting to see Kids4Peace, a program of Seeds of Peace since 2020, in action for a very long time. A couple years earlier, I had been impressed when their group joined a delegation from the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP) in Washington to meet with lawmakers and diplomats, all of whom were spellbound by these kids.

At the time, peace talks had collapsed amid a series of stabbing attacks, many by young people (in some cases, in the very neighborhoods where these kids lived). Yet these Israelis and Palestinians talked about how they met regularly in Jerusalem to learn about each other, discuss the most difficult of issues, and build the most unlikely of friendships.

Their words in those meetings mattered. Based in part on their presentation, US officials made special efforts to ensure that the Quartet’s 2016 report concluded by calling for more investment in exactly these kinds of people-to-people encounters to “strengthen the foundations for peace and countering extremism.”

Though it was by now years later, tensions in Jerusalem — just minutes away from me in Sheikh Jarrakh — were palpable once again. As I approached the building where Kids4Peace meets, I wondered what impact the storm outside might have on the middle school and high school students gathering tonight. What does a program engaging Israeli and Palestinian, Arab, Jewish, and Muslim youth in Jerusalem look like when some of their peers are facing off on the streets?

Around the corner, a world apart

That evening, two groups were meeting. On one side of the hall was a group of kids from 6th and 7th grades. Across the way were 8th and 9th graders. In the hallway between them stood a small table with light snacks and drinks. The focus of the evening sounded ambitious for any group this age: teaching them how to debate respectfully.

The atmosphere was relaxed and cozy. As the kids began to trickle in, they’d get a high five, a hug, or a “how’s it going” from one of the young adult counselors. True to their age, they all reacted to these greetings differently. Some offered a nonchalant shrug or a quiet look around the room. Others returned a wide smile or an enthusiastic gesture. Some came in twos or threes from a carpool; others came on their own.

Less obvious but equally important: Some had come from just around the corner while others had to travel an hour or two through the stress and uncertainty of military checkpoints. Some of the Jewish boys wore a kippah on their heads while one of the Muslim girls wore a hijab. The statistics — and anyone who lives here — could tell you that if not for the trailblazing work of this program, it’s unlikely these kids would ever have a chance to meet.

The evening launched with icebreakers. The younger kids began a game, where each person had a word taped to their backs to identify who or what they were. Everyone else would walk around the room and give them clues to help them guess their identity. As the kids stumbled around in search of clues, giggles and laughter bounced off the walls.


Middle school and high school students from across Jerusalem’s communities at a regular Kids4Peace meet-up. Courtesy of Kids4Peace.

On the surface, I simply couldn’t help but smile. These kids were having a blast. They navigated the room and interacted without regard to who they were, where they came from, or how the society outside would label them. People outside would be in shock or outrage to see this, but in here it was just plain fun.

It seemed to me the game was full of meaning, too. It was a reminder about the identities we carry inside versus the ones we wear on the outside, not to mention how we sometimes need a community to help us figure out who we really are. What community we choose can make a big difference in who we become. These kids had found a community like none other.

Tel Aviv vs. Ramallah

As the game continued among the younger group, I ducked out and crossed the hall, quietly opening the door to the senior program in progress. The eighth and ninth graders here were sitting on chairs in a big circle around the room with two facing each other in the center, one marked “agree” and the other “disagree.” When I walked in, the room was full of lively conversation. Something was under intense debate.

It quickly became clear what the raucous excitement was all about: Barcelona or Real Madrid? The kids in the center were debating each other, and everyone around the room was listening and cheering them on. When someone in the larger circle thought they could do better, they would tap a shoulder to take one of the places at the center. And that was just the start. The next hot topic: Instagram vs. TikTok. And then: Tel Aviv vs. Ramallah.

As needed, Yarden and Mohammed, the Israeli and Palestinian counselors, provided help with real-time translation into Hebrew and Arabic. And soon they introduced new rules: No shouting. No interrupting the other person. Before you respond, first you have to repeat what your debate partner just said. And always refer to your opponent respectfully as Mr. or Ms.

More topics followed in debates for-or-against: Everyone should be vegetarian! Mixed-gender schools are better! Parents should be able to read everything on their kids’ phones!

Watching from the sidelines, it was clear what was happening. First, the kids were re-aligning themselves, not along national or religious lines but based on their ideas. Second, they were learning tools for engaging in respectful debate. And third, they had a chance to reflect on how it felt to play different roles and engage with each other in different ways.

After the activity, the counselors led a de-brief, posing questions for discussion. How did it feel to sit on the chairs in the middle? How did it feel to sit on the outside? What did it feel like to argue for something you don’t believe? How did the debate change after we added the rules? What would your life be like — what would the world be like — if everyone debated this way?

A little later, the kids took on more issues. They broke into small groups to consider various ethical dilemmas they might encounter in their teenage lives: Should you invite your whole class to a party? What do you do if you find money on the street? What to do if a student cheats on an important test? Again, a thoughtful conversation followed: How did it feel to disagree with people? Was it harder or easier to disagree with someone of your own or a different religion? Do you learn more from people with whom you agree or disagree?

These were just a couple segments of a lively two-hour evening program, which concluded with talk of Hanukkah and Christmas celebrations and everyone singing the Kids4Peace song. Before parting ways, the students exchanged more hugs and high-fives goodbye as they filtered out of the room.

When they return after winter break, the journey continues. With this early work under their belts, some of the issues will become a bit more challenging, focusing on conflicts, leadership, role models and, of course, national narratives.

What the kids say

Seeing the program in action, it speaks for itself. It’s obvious that these kids are getting not only a high-caliber evening activity but also best-in-class leadership development, an opportunity to meet extremely diverse peers, and a chance to work together to sift through issues that several generations of adults have not managed to solve.

Youth who have gone through Kids4Peace talk about a transformative experience. When he was a 9th grader, Jewish alum Evyatar explained that he joined the group to “learn about ‘the other side’ for myself,” and soon “it wasn’t ‘the other side’ to me anymore. Because of the Palestinian friends I’ve made through K4P, I don’t see it as an ‘us against them’ thing anymore.” He says it’s “really special that we can talk about hard topics… we can be such close friends and respect one another deeply even if we have different opinions and beliefs.”

Another alum, Kareem, a Palestinian Muslim, said when he was a 9th grader that the program enabled him and his Kids4Peace friends to hear and tell stories grounded in each other’s very different realities. “[T]elling your story shows them and gives them an experience that is stronger than their illogical misinterpretations.” Indeed, while some on the outside accuse these programs of ignoring the conflict, they are nearly the only places where people can share their realities with the other side and advocate for allies and change.

Impact rippling outward

What these young people do every week at Kids4Peace Jerusalem is often not easy or popular. Yet those who participate — and their parents — seem to have discovered its rewards and know what an opportunity it presents. They walk away with relationships and skills that are simply unheard of in today’s reality.

And if they have a little more hope than most, it’s not from naivete. Quite the contrary, it’s because they’re grounded in reality. Unlike most of their peers, they enter adulthood prepared for the toughest issues. They become adult community members having had this experience building trust and confronting a generational conflict together. They also become part of a growing network and community of graduates from many of the 150 organizations within the ALLMEP network.

Walking out into the cool Jerusalem air that evening, I couldn’t stop thinking about where these remarkable kids will be in just a few years and imagine: What could the next generation of voters and leaders look like if there was so much more of this? The implications could spread wide and far beyond this city. As the next year of programming soon gets underway, the power to step closer to that reality is once again in the hands of local parents and kids alike.

About the Author

Avi Meyerstein is the founder and president of the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP), the coalition of 170 NGOs building people-to-people cooperation and partnerships between Israelis and Palestinians, Arabs and Jews in the Middle East. The views expressed are his own.

Read Avi’s blog post at The Times of Israel ››

Seeds of Peace UK screens ‘SEEDS’ documentary, holds panel discussion

Dec 2, 2009 / No Comments

LONDON | On December 2, Seeds of Peace UK and the International Community Committee Film Club at the American School in London (ASL) screened the film “SEEDS”. The showing was followed by a panel of three Seeds, Patrick Cirenza (ASL ’11, Camp ’07, ’09), Sarah Khatib, (Jordanian, Camp ’00-’02) and Vivek Jois (ASL ’11, Camp ’09).

Following the powerful film, the Seeds who spoke of how Camp had changed their lives. As Patrick said, “Seeds of Peace is truly unique. I don’t know of a single other place in the world where teenagers of so many nationalities can have such a free exchange of ideas and culture. I believe to my core that Seeds of Peace changed me, changed the others who went to Camp, and is going to change the world.”

Vivek Jois spoke about his background: “As a British citizen, of Indian origin and educated at an American international school, Seeds of Peace provided the perfect way to express my internationalism. I feel indebted to Seeds of Peace because I truly believe that there is no other cause as big, no other experience as difficult, and no other place that can make people follow the true calling of their hearts over their blind loyalties.”

Remarks by Seeds

Patrick Cirenza

Patrick attended the Seeds of Peace Camp in 2009 and is currently enrolled at the American School in London.

When I knew I was going to Seeds of Peace I decided I was going to very prepared for the dialogue sessions. I read numerous books, read my news from Al-Jazeera English, and even learned a few phrases in Hebrew and Arabic.

I thought I was ready.

I wasn’t.

On the first day of orientation Tim Wilson, one of the founders of the Camp, talked to the American delegation in one of his famously to-the-point speeches.

He looked us all in the eye and said, “You know nothing, but you sure as hell will learn quick.”

Shaken, but resolved I began Camp.

My Israeli-Palestinian dialogue sessions are some of my most vivid memories of Camp. The first week was uncomfortable, to say the least. Trying to get a room full of unacquainted teenagers to discuss their personal beliefs and experiences in any situation is near impossible. Decades of conflict certainly didn’t help. I still wonder to this day how the facilitators got us talking. But when we did, the fireworks began to go off. Once they began, there was no stopping them.

Everything I had so carefully learned over the past couple months went straight out the window. All I could do was sit there and listen as they argued. I simply wasn’t able to relate to anything they talked about. I was completely out of my depth.

A girl from Sderot, “I didn’t go to school for two months because Kassam rockets were hitting my school and my bus route.”

I remember sitting there thinking, closest experience I have to that is a snow day.

A Palestinian boy said, “I was sitting in my basement with my family when my house was bulldozed on top of us.”

My jaw just dropped. My mind was blank.

The story I will remember the most, the one I will probably never forget is that of Janan. She was an older girl in the dialogue and usually quite quiet but responded to the question “What does the Occupation mean to you?”

She began her story by looking at the floor “I was sitting in class one day chatting with my best friend when an Israeli soldier burst into the room and opened fire. My best friend was hit and she died in my arms. There had been an IDF raid on school, which was suspected of hiding a cache of weapons. There were no weapons.”

Then she looked the Israelis right in the eye and said “this is what the Occupation means to me.”

While her story is tragic what was even more so was the manner in which she told it. She was numb, devoid of emotion. The conflict was a part of her life. She was born in it and, as she told me later with much conviction, she was going to die in it.

Stories like hers were just a currency at Seeds of Peace to exchange in dialogue in order to prove who had suffered more.

But it wasn’t always tense at Camp. Cultural boundaries were often stripped down in oddest of fashions, often in manners that would never occur in a dialogue room.

We attended a baseball game; as resident American I was expected to explain the rules to this truly bizarre game. After about 15 minutes of trying to expound the virtues of baseball and comparing it to every other sport on the planet. Israelis, Palestinians, Indians, and Pakistanis were united in telling me just how stupid they thought it was.

I made the mistake of insulting hummous one meal. Israeli and Palestinian alike leapt to defend the cause of one of their favorite foods. I never did it again.

I remember one American girl burst into tears when an innocently curious Pakistani boy asked, “Aren’t all Americans supposed to be fat?” a sentiment to which many other non-Americans seemed to concur with.

Seeds of Peace is a truly unique in that sense. I don’t know of a single other place in the world where teenagers of so many nationalities can have such a free exchange of ideas and culture. I know I walked out of that camp both vowing that I would return and with an entirely new view of my life and the world.

Since Seeds of Peace, I have taken up Arabic, attempted to start a youth interfaith council and raised money for organization by doing everything from growing my beard to racing in a triathlon.

The only reason I am sitting before you today is because I believe to my core that Seeds of Peace changed me, changed the others who went to Camp, and is going to change the world.

Vivek Jois

Vivek attended the Seeds of Peace Camp in 2009 and is currently enrolled at the American School in London.

I’m going to start today by telling you a little more about myself. I was born in London, a British citizen by birth. When I was 4, my parents, both admirers of the American education system, decided to send me to The American School in London, and I’ve remained here for the last 13 years.

To me, London is something special—it’s what I like to call, “the gateway of the world.” We’ve got America to the left, and the Middle East and Asia to the right.

I’ve watched the world change over the past 16 years of my life, and I’ve watched the international affairs brew, from the Kargil War between India and Pakistan to the Second Intifada, to the United States’ invasion of Iraq.

I’ve been the perfect outsider, as one might say: I’ve seen different societies interact with each other, in sometimes both positive and negative ways. But it wasn’t until this past summer that I asked myself the question: Who Am I? Because, clearly, I’m British by birth, American by education, and Indian by heritage. There’s no way I’m escaping my tri-national background—it follows me around everywhere.

But the real question to be asked here is, “Does it matter?”

The answer, realistically, in any case, is no. I, not being a citizen of the US, was a part of the American Delegation this summer, and it didn’t matter. Sure, I have an American accent so you might think I would fit in with everyone else in the delegation, but really, that’s not the case. The general concept of a delegation is one based on regional connections—which are why you have the Israeli, Palestinian, Indian, Pakistani, and other regional delegations at Camp.

But the American Delegation is not founded on regional ties—this year, we had one girl from an international school in Morocco, and Patrick and I from London. The American Delegation is founded based on common systematic thought—the Western upbringing, for students in westernized education systems, like all of you students here. In fact, it would be incredible if there were more Seeds from the UK—we could add so much more from our experience of being at the center of all the major world societies.

Let me just sum it up: anyone can apply for Seeds of Peace. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from when you arrive at Camp—all that matters is who you become after those three incredible weeks in Maine.

To go into my next point, I would just like to say how much I enjoyed Camp this summer. It was an enlightening experience, in which I got to spend three weeks in the middle of the scenic New England forest, isolated from the world outside. It definitely changed me—but when I returned, and soon as I left the gates of Camp, I had to face reality once again.

I received a lot of interrogation from my friends and teachers upon returning to London. All of them had tons of questions as to what I did, what I saw, what I learnt at Camp.

But what I found is that every few people I talked to asked me the same question, “Isn’t Seeds of Peace a Jewish organization?” That is, to say, is Seeds of Peace intended towards students of a Jewish background?

I personally feel that this stigma is incorrect. Yes, half of the American Delegation happened to be from a Jewish background, and the Israeli Delegation was the biggest at Camp, but what does that say about the organization’s tendency towards one group or another? Nothing. The conflict facing Israel is so current that it is only natural that people who feel a tie to one of the countries involved would want to do this in search of the truth in the matters pertaining to the “other side.”

Let me assure you, that no matter how many Seeds were from a Jewish background, there was equal representation from other delegations and points of view across the globe.

We had students from Palestinian backgrounds in the American Delegation, as well as others like myself from different and mixed cultural compositions.

I would like to conclude today by telling you about one day at Camp. It was during our daily two-hour dialogue session, and I was in a dialogue group of Middle Eastern kids. Our facilitators split us into two groups at random, not based on where we’re from or whatever. We then went to separate parts of the room. One facilitator came over to my group, and we were told to assume that we have a dying mother in hospital, and in order to survive, she needs the juice of a certain orange. Okay, easy enough, no one had difficulty imagining that.

Then, we were told that this certain orange was in the hands of the other group, across the room. What went through my mind in that instant was: Oh no. The other side needs the orange juice too. This is going to be difficult. Then we were each paired up with one person from the other group, and were told to negotiate the orange for ourselves.

So I sat down opposite Laila, the girl I was paired up with, knowing this was going to be hard if she needed that orange juice for her own reasons, as I had been told. But as we talked about it, she informed me about what her group had been told to assume: they needed the rind of the orange.

It was a key moment in my experience, because it highlighted the point of the Seeds of Peace: if you don’t talk to your supposed enemy, you make assumptions about their demands and needs, much like I assumed that Laila needed the orange’s juice as well. But it is only through talking to the other side, talking to the person who has been made your enemy by society, that you finally gain an understanding of what they have been told, and can thus make an honest decision on the peaceable outcome of a situation. This is the only way that our ultimate goal can be achieved.

The orange is what generations on either side of a conflict have called their Promised Land; when in fact, they have not realized yet that they can coexist if they were to just understand people from the other side—the people that their society terms as “the enemy.”

This is fully what the Seeds of Peace has taught me, and I hope, with the induction of many more future Seeds, we will be able to continue this process for the goodwill of our global community.

Sarah Khatib

Sarah attended the Seeds of Peace Camp in 2000-2002 as a member of the Jordanian Delegation. She is currently completing a Masters of Law at SOAS.

It is easy to manipulate nations into hating their enemies. It not at all easy to give the enemy a face, but this is what Seeds of Peace did for me and many others, and it continues to do so till this very day. The term “enemy” was not only toned down into “the other side,” but for me now the enemy has a face and a name; be it Elad, Rita, Hagar, Khen or Rony and whoever else I have met at Camp.

Seeds of Peace is a revolution against this manipulation. It is an international revolution for which I can find no counterpart. Tell me where else in the world could I have gone at the age of thirteen not only to familiarize myself with Israelis, Americans, and Greeks, etc., but give them a face after unmasking them every day at Camp.

In my personal statement for my master’s application I wrote “in the summers of 2000, 2001, 2002 I was one of the participants sharing space and dining with Israelis, Palestinians, Cypriot and Turkish teenagers, some of whom became my close friends. During camp time, we all took part in co–existence sessions. We all, at a very early age, sat down and talked about real life conflict issues and tried—hard—to reach common grounds, something only ten years prior to that my father was doing at Wadi Araba where the Israeli–Jordanian peace talks were concluded.” I do not think that any of us who participated in Seeds of Peace would have become the individuals we are now and who we will be tomorrow if the transitional force brought about by Seeds of Peace was absent.

Even at the peak of conflicts, I learned to narrow down my anger and frustration. During the horrific events in Gaza last year, it was common to hear people saying “the Israelis are ruthless, they have no hearts.” I was saying, but the Israeli government is ruthless and irrational, thinking that this is the way to deal with the conflict. It is not by any means easy to talk about peace in a time of war, of course it seems easier and inevitable for me to give up on my convictions; then I look at my Camp pictures and say “what a minute, but peace did happen, it happens every summer in Maine.” I have seen it with my own eyes, I felt it, and I lived it.

Ten years later, I need to admit that some things do as a matter of fact change. In one of my classes the tutor asked “what is the difference between a dispute and a conflict”? I said well it’s quite clear, your course is titled “dispute resolution and conflict management,” and therefore, disputes can be resolved, where conflicts can only be managed. The tutor nodded and smiled as if I made a point that was too clear, but was one that she failed to notice. It was then and there that I realized how far I have come from my time at Camp; now a bit more cynical but with a sense of realism. I know that I have not given up on my principles, I merely modified them.

Seeds of Peace rooted in me this notion of “selflessness”. We all develop our own narratives, and one of my own narratives is the idea of “transferability,” as in how transferable are the things that I learn? I think to myself why do not the parties of the conflict submit to arbitration or go to court to have their differences dealt with by a neutral third party? I know such ideas some ridiculous to many, but this is how I want to apply my area of specialization to conflicts; this is the selflessness that Seeds of Peace taught me, how could what I learn and posses help others? I really believe that at some point I will be able to pay Seeds of Peace back, if not in a strict sense then to assist in the concrete realization of our hopes and aspirations.

For so many years I was hoping that I would get the chance to talk about my experience at Camp and with Seeds of Peace. Now that I have this chance, I thought for a long time about the things I could talk about, but all my lawyering skills cannot come into play. Seeds of Peace raised me up; it taught me to differentiate between the right and wrong, between the moral and the immoral, between the norm and the exception, regardless of how blurred the lines between such can be. This is a virtue that I value, for it is one that makes Seeds all over the world stand out in their communities and countries, and it is one that makes as all as Seeds stand out in the world.

Mideast violence uproots Seeds of Peace kids’ camp
The Houston Chronicle

Jun 17, 2001 / No Comments

JERUSALEM | When Yona Kaplan met Palestinian Hiba Eweiwi at a summer camp in Maine last year, the 15-year-old Israeli beamed at the prospect of making a cross-border friend.

Her goal for attending the two-week camp, sponsored by Seeds of Peace, a high-powered philanthropy that brings teens from war-torn regions together, was to put political differences aside and sow friendships across the Israeli-Palestinian divide. Eweiwi, a bouncy Christian with a British accent, seemed the perfect pal.

But since the girls returned home—Kaplan to Jerusalem, Eweiwi to Bethlehem in the West Bank—they have not seen each other once, though they live a mere 30-minute drive apart. For eight months, they have watched the bombs and gun battles of the Palestinian uprising from opposing sides.

“I call her on the phone sometimes,” said Kaplan, a bubbly girl with brown pigtails tied in white elastic bands. “She tells me, `Today I heard an explosion’ or, `There were gunshots today.’ ”

Separated at home, the two girls will not meet at camp this summer either.

Despite a shaky cease-fire worked out last week by CIA director George Tenet, the Seeds of Peace program has become a casualty of the violence. Both Israeli and Palestinian officials say the atmosphere is too acrimonious to bother with peace initiatives, and both sides have refused to send their teen-agers to the camp.

“It’s a protest against the Israeli aggression against our people,” said Numan Sharif of the Palestinian Ministry of Education who oversees Palestinian participation in the program.

He added, “It’s difficult to send our kids when it’s like a war here. How can we participate when Israel is killing our people and causing us to suffer?”

Hadara Rosenblum, an Israeli Ministry of Education official who directs her country’s participation in the program, said, “We got a lot of negative feelings about going to the camp.”

She added, “Some of the parents and some of the kids and some of the teachers say, `How can we trust the Palestinians?’ Until the atmosphere becomes a little bit more positive, we are not sending the kids.”

Founded by John Wallach, an American author and journalist, the Seeds of Peace program has been bringing Israeli and Arab youths from 10 countries in the Middle East to summer camps in Portland, Maine, since 1993.

The teen-agers play field hockey and learn archery. Some water ski and put on plays. All sleep in wood cabins and participate in “dialogues” on coexistence where they discuss how they see the conflict and the “enemy” on the other side.

Over the years, young people from other troubled regions around the globe—including the Balkans, India and Pakistan, and the divided island of Cyprus—have joined in, and the program has received praise from world leaders and strong backing from the White House, particularly during the years of Bill Clinton’s presidency.

“The experience definitely does change opinions,” said Adam Shapiro, the Seeds for Peace director in Jerusalem who worked with teens at the camp in 1998. “Simply living at camp with someone who is supposed to be your enemy—afraid to go to sleep at night because you think they might stab you—it certainly breaks down stereotypes.”

But Shapiro admits that the Middle East program has hit troubled times.

Before the Israeli Ministry of Education pulled its support, it sent out 200 letters to teens who had been to the camp asking whether they would be interested in returning. Only 58 responded, according to Rosenblum. Fifty-two showed up for interviews.

“Dialogue programs are not popular right now or seen as very useful,” Shapiro said. “With the violence going on, they’re just not seen in a favorable light.”

With no official Israeli support, Shapiro said the program decided to independently sponsor teen-agers who had been to the Maine camp and who were willing to participate again. No first-time campers were considered. So far, about 40 Israelis have signed up to go.

Kaplan is one of them.

Despite the government’s reservations, she feels her experience has had a positive effect on her and her classmates. She has even persuaded some of her friends that the Palestinians have a valid point of view.

“Some of them didn’t take it very well. They said, `Look at what the Palestinians are doing,’ ” she said. “I try to tell them that not all of them are bad.

“I can understand the anger that Palestinians have.”

Since the Palestinian uprising erupted last September, Tamer Shabaneh, a 16-year-old Palestinian, has spent many days huddled in a room in his West Bank home listening to the boom of Israeli tank fire echoing through the hills outside.

On safer days, he takes a small video recorder to a nearby Israeli army post or to the center of Hebron, where stone-throwing clashes often erupt between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers, and films the scene.

One day, he hopes to show the footage to his Israeli friend, Sergei Kazanovich, whom Shabaneh met at a Seeds for Peace camp last year.

So far, he hasn’t had the chance.

One Israeli military order forbids Israelis from entering Palestinian-ruled towns in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Another one requires Palestinians to obtain a military permit, which Shabaneh doesn’t have, to enter Israel.

It would be easier, Shabaneh says, for the two friends to meet in Maine than in the Middle East. But like all Palestinians, Shabaneh does not plan to return to the camp this year.

“It was a very good opportunity to know the other face of Israelis,” he said. “But in this political situation, I truly can’t go. I just can’t disrespect how people feel about having contact with Israelis.”

Kaplan said she is disappointed that Palestinians won’t participate. For her, meeting people from the West Bank and Gaza helped break down barriers.

“I didn’t see Arabs as people,” she said. “Now I can see their point of view.”

Now more than ever, she said, young people should meet.

“I don’t think it is contradictory to go to camp when the violence is happening,” Kaplan said. “I think especially in times like these, we need to have the camp.”

Read Deborah Horan’s article at The Houston Chronicle »

Alumni Profile: Arnon
Creating community through music

Apr 18, 2018 / No Comments

Our alumni are working in ways small and large to make an impact in their communities. This “Alumni Profiles” blog series will feature some of our over 7,000 changemakers in 27 countries around the world who are working to transform conflict.

Arnon, who goes by his stage name Sun Tailor, is a 2018 GATHER Fellow. Right before the Fellowship program kicked off in Sweden, he talked with us from his self-described “music cave” in Jaffa about what he hopes to accomplish as part of the program.

Seeds of Peace: Tell us about your journey to where you are now.

Sun Tailor: When I was 23, I moved from Israel to London to study music, that’s when Sun Tailor came into existence. Then I toured in India after my first album, and I found my “why”—the thing that gets me excited about making music. Seeing people come together, get excited together, live and talk about something together … every night in India I was happiest when I got to be the person making that happen. I tour all over the world, and I do it because that is what matters to me. That’s my passion, the biggest contribution I can offer.

Seeds of Peace: Can you talk about the work you aim to do as a GATHER Fellow?

Sun Tailor: My project is a music workshop that brings together high schoolers in Israel and in the Palestinian territories—the Jewish schools, the Arab schools, everyone we can get—to experience the other side through music. It’s about acknowledging the power of music as language.

I’m a proud Israeli; I’m passionate about living here, and I’ve been thinking about what I can do to contribute. The workshop came from the idea of people coming together, singing together, clapping together—sharing a language beyond nationalism or religion. The best thing I can give to the world is connecting people to a shared experience, using the power of music to open up hearts and minds. To create a community out of nothing, without words.

It’s not about solving a political issue. I’m not a politician, I don’t have political answer. But I have a human answer. If we can see each other as human, as the same, we’ll be much better at solving the problem.

Seeds of Peace: What is your superpower?

Sun Tailor: Music! It is a real superpower. It heals people internally—I use it on myself as well. When I sit down with a guitar, it can change my state for the better. In my own personal journey, even if no one sees it, something strong can happen. It’s that feeling after exercising or playing a sport, but it’s on a spiritual level. It’s a workout for the soul.

Seeds of Peace: How did you first hear about Seeds of Peace?

Sun Tailor: There was a Mic and Pen event [a Seeds of Peace-piloted initiative to engage musicians and other artists in conflict transformation] here in Jaffa that I was invited to, then an artists’ retreat in the south of Israel that I joined. It was amazing to collaborate with all sorts of artists—Israeli, Palestinian, Jewish. I actually recorded a song with Saz, a Palestinian rapper I met through Mic and Pen, and we’re currently finishing production on it.

Seeds of Peace: If your life was a TV show, book, movie, song or album, which would it be?

Hmmm, that’s a good question. I’m not sure—it’s not really a comedy, it’s not fantasy or science fiction. That doesn’t leave many options, does it? I hope it’s an epic and not a melodrama!

Seeds of Peace: What are you most excited about going into the GATHER Fellowship program in Sweden?

Sun Tailor: I’m excited to meet other people in a similar situation as I am, where they’re social entrepreneurs and they want to create positive change. To be able to come together with a group of people is very powerful. And yes, I’m bringing my guitar!

You can check out Sun Tailor’s tour dates on www.suntailor.com. Questions or comments? Let us know below!

How art can transform conflict:
An interview with Lisa Cirenza

May 9, 2018 / No Comments

When artist Lisa Cirenza told us she was donating one of her latest works to Seeds of Peace, we were ecstatic.

Of course, as a member of our Global Leadership Council and a mother of Seeds, Lisa is far from a stranger to us. But it’s rare that we get a chance to talk to her about her craft—or her personal journey.

She had just returned home from a showing in Edinburgh, Scotland, when we spoke, and she was already gearing up for a fresh round of shows. Below are highlights from our conversation, where Lisa talks about how art can help create a culture of peace.


Lisa with her recent piece, “Amina.”

Seeds of Peace: Tell us a little bit about your journey to becoming an artist?

Lisa: I always wanted to be an artist, but my parents were very strict that I become either a doctor, a lawyer, or a scientist. They didn’t see being a Bohemian artist as the best road to success, so much of my training was done in secret. In college, I double-majored in French so I could clandestinely study art in Paris. I used to sneak out to take art classes—that was a huge theme of my life, going out to take class after class. My goal was to amass all the tools in my toolbox, so when I fully launched, I wouldn’t be held back by not knowing how to use the screwdriver.

I was volunteering for Human Rights Watch and they wanted a piece for an auction. I made something for them, but because I didn’t have a name in the art world or an established price range, they wouldn’t take the piece. So I said to them, “I’m going to come back with a name and reputation so my art can do advocacy work and raise funds.”

Shortly after, I was accepted into my first show. The show did really well, and it’s been an amazing, intense whirlwind of two and a half years since then. Now Human Rights Watch will gladly take a piece I donate to them for an auction!

Especially in our current environment, where we’re surrounded by instantaneous answers and news, it’s important that we visually expose people to questions that they may not have considered before. To encourage people to create genuine dialogue.

Seeds of Peace: Walk us through your artistic process. What inspires you? What is your art about?

Lisa: The heart of all of my work is empathy. One of my most well-known works is a series on the Tube in London. I find the Tube to be a microcosm of multicultural nexus. Despite our differences, we all have the same purpose—get from point A to point B. In the Tube, two people you would never see in the same room together will share an armrest.

I’ve learned the value of listening and the value of not assuming that your narrative is the only narrative. So my art is about asking, “What is the other person’s narrative?”

Seeds of Peace: How can art transform conflict?

Lisa: The Tube isn’t a conflict region, but the people occupying that space are often in conflict. I’ve had people see my work and tell me they never rode the subway the same way again. That my art made them be present in the moment, made them consider for the first time what the backgrounds and stories were of each of the commuters around them. I personally cannot change the world at a high level. But if one person is kind to someone in the Tube because of me, that’s a huge victory.

I also think art has a crucial role of slowing people down. Especially in our current environment, where we’re surrounded by instantaneous answers and news, it’s important that we visually expose people to questions that they may not have considered before. To encourage people to create genuine dialogue. I don’t think art should give answers; it should ask questions and have the viewers ask questions.

Lisa’s work is in corporate and private collections throughout the world, and includes commissions for Apple, Stanford Hospital, Human Rights Watch, and Stockton mayor Michael Tubbs. Her next showing is at Oxford in May, and she will be in an international residency this summer. You can check out her art at www.cirenza.com.

Ten Giving Tuesday #SeedsOfPeaceStories

Dec 12, 2018 / No Comments

On Giving Tuesday this year, we asked members of our community to share their #SeedsOfPeaceStory on social media.

Our goal was not just to spread awareness of our work, but also to celebrate the diverse voices of our family. And to be honest, we had no idea what to expect.

That day, hundreds of people shared poignant experiences, lessons learned, and moments of transformation—their reflections reaching far beyond our own social media following. To read this cascade of heartfelt testimonials was magical, and we were so happy to see the connections they fostered within our community. Hopefully, they even reconnected alumni to each other.

We’re happy to share just a few of these amazing journeys with you.

Rona, Israeli Seed

Over 24 years ago I heard about a summer peace camp in the US for kids my age. I thought it was a cool way to score a trip to the United States with other kids. I didn’t know it would be one of the most defining experiences of my life. I couldn’t imagine that I would make some of my best friends there, learn the most important life skills such as listening and being able to find common ground, even with the people I never thought I could.

I became a part of a living, breathing, constantly growing organism which is Seeds of Peace. That experience at 14 led to a second, a third, to different opportunities and even jobs over my teens and 20s.

Today, in my late 30s, I’m still proud of being a part of Seeds of Peace and I will do everything in my power to help it move forward and award many more kids (including my own!) to have this life-changing experience. This is my almost-quarter-century-long #seedsofpeacestory.

Syed, Pakistani Seed

In 2014, it was probably the best summer of my life. I interacted with more than a hundred people from all over the world. I played with an American, I dined with an Israeli, I swam with an Egyptian, I walked with a Palestinian, I danced with an Indian, I learned with a Jordanian, I shared the bunk with an Afghan.

Camp was a place where I was not treated by my national identity, but as a human being. I experienced diversity and coexistence, I heard people who came from different conflicts, I heard their different stories. It was an experience of a lifetime for me. My perspective of peace, war, and hate have all turned upside down into this idea that the world is a beautiful place to live.

Sophia, New York Seed

My #SeedsOfPeaceStory started only last July. Entering Camp for the first time, I had little idea of what would come next, and any preconceived notions I had coming in were quickly shattered. Quickly I fell into the routine of dialogue, group challenge, and other activities, and I found myself in a community as I had never experienced before.

At Seeds of Peace, I was free to express myself without limitation. The collective energy inspired me to do things I never would have thought I would do, like walking on a tightrope blindfolded. I made meaningful friendships and learned so much from a variety of perspectives I had never experienced before.

Overall, going to Camp was one of the best experiences of my whole life!

Luma, Jordanian Seed

My #SeedsofPeaceStory started more than 10 years ago in the summer of 2008. I was a 14-year-old shy, awkward kid that, for some reason, thought she knew more than enough about the politics in the region. I did not arrive at Pleasant Lake with an open mind—I went there to prove a point.

It took me two minutes after getting out of the bus to completely forget the point I was determined to make. I did not join Seeds of Peace with an open mind, but after the three weeks I spent in Camp, I left with an open mind, open heart, and an open soul.

Seeds shaped my life 10 years ago and continues to until this day. It shaped the way in which I think, I listen, and I speak. It opened my eyes to the world and helped me understand the power of dialogue. It made me wait for the other side’s perspective before formulating my own “point.”

Watching the news over the past 10 years, the only comfort is that “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field,” and I’ve been there. And I’m so grateful for that opportunity.

Netal, Israeli Seed

Seeds of Peace has given me so much more than I could ever explain. It has given me family, friends, unconditional relationships that I would have never found in other places in my life. More than anything, it has given me the option to live my life differently. And for that, I’ll always be thankful.

Sarah, Maine Seed

Nervously clutching my inhaler outside the Infirmary on my first day of Camp in 2006, I had no idea how this Bunk 5 family and Seeds of Peace would change my life. From camper to counselor to facilitator, I have continued to rely on this community for strength and hope as the world works hard to make us doubt everything we know about the power of empathy and love to create change. They tried to bury us but they didn’t know we were Seeds (even though all of my clothing says “Seeds of Peace” on it … they really should be able to tell).

Krisha, Indian Seed

I knew I was excited and yet I could feel a knot in the pit of my stomach. I was very nervous. I was going back after three long years. It had been difficult keeping in touch with everybody. Would people remember me after all? What was I supposed to say? What would people think? Would I be able to be there for my campers? Could I be a good PS?

These loud, rapid-paced thoughts clogged my mind as the bus headed towards Camp. I could hear the energetic chants as the bus rolled in. I could sense the enthusiasm in the air as soon as I stepped out. Passing through the human tunnel, there I was, in the line-up pit, jumping and dancing and celebrating togetherness with a hundred beautiful people I was yet to know.

That evening, as I was strolling through Camp, I noticed a plaque in the trophy room that read, “This is where we belong.” I knew I was home.

Seeds of Peace has been a process of great essence and transformation for me. I am grateful to Seeds of Peace for creating a community where vulnerability does not feel so uncomfortable; where differences are accepted and individuality is celebrated.

I have been able to witness and foster my rawest self at Camp by opening my heart and mind to people, embracing fears and insecurities whilst challenging myself to overcome them, understanding who I am and what I believe in!

At Seeds of Peace, I have learnt to recognize my voice and give it power not by undermining the voices of others but by standing by it when needed, for myself or for others. For the friendships, love, opportunity, and sense of purpose, Seeds of Peace, I am thankful!

Ameer, Palestinian Seed

Thank you, Seeds of Peace, for letting me know people from Gaza, Nablus, Bethlehem, Hebron, Nazareth, Tira, Arraba, Kofor Qassem, Ramallah, and Jerusalem. I never imagined the barriers between us would be broken, that we would gather in one place and be a family.

People from Cairo, Amman, Los Angeles, New York, Washington, DC, Morocco, Maine, Somalia, Pakistan, India, and many more places are all my family, too, and mean a lot to me.

I spent three weeks with them in a journey of finding ourselves, sharing stories and becoming more open-minded. The experience changed me to a better person, a person who now has a real passion about something, about giving back to my community, and Palestinians in general.

Now I believe in the change I can make and how I can be the change.

Thank you, Seeds of Peace, for giving me the space to share my opinions and to represent Palestine.

Habeeba, Egyptian Seed

At 14 years old, I struggled a lot with dialogue at Camp. It wasn’t until the end of the program that I realized why it was so hard—I just wasn’t communicating.

Seeds of Peace taught me what it means to truly communicate with others. We, I, often take communication for granted—it’s hard, it’s challenging, to pour my heart out to you, to tell you the reasons I stay up at night, to allow my body to showcase my insecurities. And that’s what I was asked to do at Camp: to shed all my exterior armor, to let down my guard, and just be human—fragile, open, loving.

And I learned to listen. I shared parts of myself I never knew I could put into words, and I listened, intently, to others do the same. I learned to be empathetic, and warm, and welcoming—to stop myself from falling into the cycle of indifferent and apathetic communication, one that we all know too well.

At 16 years old, back at Camp as a PS, I learned to question—question everything I thought I knew about myself, everything I’ve been told, everything that I believed to be a constant.

This questioning has stayed with me until today, and has transformed the way I carry myself and view the world.

Abukar, Maine Seed

Long before I discovered my passion for journalism, I was interviewed by the BBC, thanks to Seeds of Peace. It was August of 2012 and I was a 17-year-old activist. I shared how an identity I once considered a burden—being a black immigrant, from a Muslim background—turned into a source of strength, even in the whitest state.

I don’t know how that experience has shaped what I do now, but this I know: Seeds of Peace has given me the opportunity to learn more about myself and the world around me, so that today I am able to do that for others. And for that I am grateful.

This is only a small handful of the more than 400 compelling experiences our community shared during Giving Tuesday. You can search the #SeedsOfPeaceStory hashtag on Facebook or Instagram to see more. And if you missed posting on Giving Tuesday, we’d still love to hear your own #SeedsOfPeaceStory!

Leslie named Director, Seeds meet Abbas | Newsletter

Oct 7, 2009 / No Comments

Leslie Adelson Lewin next Executive Director

Leslie Lewin

Special message from Janet Wallach: On behalf of the Board of Directors it is my privilege to announce that Leslie Adelson Lewin has been named Executive Director of Seeds of Peace.

Over the past 18 months, we performed an exhaustive search that included candidates from all over the world. In addition to a deep understanding of our mission, strong managerial skills, and the other qualities we were looking for in our next Executive Director, one of the characteristics that set Leslie apart from all the others is an unwavering commitment to each member of our Seeds of Peace family. We are thrilled that she has accepted this role. No one is better qualified to lead Seeds of Peace into the future. Read more »

Spotlight: Seeds in the news

Joseph (Joey) Katona, a 21-year old Seed, was named a ‘Hero Among Us’ by People Magazine. Joey has raised more than $60,000 for his fellow Seed, Palestinian Omar Dreidi, to attend college in America. The two first met at Seeds of Peace Camp. Read the article »

Palestinian Seed Khadrah AbuZant writes an op-ed in Ha’aretz urging Middle East leaders to make even greater efforts toward revitalizing the peace process, even in the wake of the war in Gaza and southern Israel that began in December 2008. AbuZant writes, “Although many of us are frustrated with this 60-year conflict, we must set aside time for healing before starting the peace process again. This time, greater efforts must be made toward creating a solution that will bring lasting peace. The process cannot simply be forced into motion: People must be willing for it to continue.” Read the article »

Noorzadeh Raja, a Pakistani Seed, recently published an article in The Daily Times of Pakistan about her experience at the Seeds of Peace Camp this year. She writes, “It was amazing to hear their [Indian] side of the story, and learn about how what they’ve been told differs from what our history books say. The first step to making peace is, no doubt, clearing all misconceptions, and our dialogue sessions certainly served this purpose. It was an enlightening experience.” Read the article »

The Times of India recently profiled an Indian Seed, Gaurav Bhawnani, and the life-changing experience he had at this summer’s Camp. Bhawnani said, “The camp was an eye-opener as it helped dispel a lot of misconceptions about the two countries. Now, some of my best friends are Pakistani. And our friendship is life-long.” Read the article »

American Seed, Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz, has co-founded a unique program at the University of Pennsylvania called Dorm Room Diplomacy, which aims to cultivate mutual understanding between students at Penn and college students in the Middle East. To do this, Gantz helped form a partnership with the University of Jordan, among other schools, and are leveraging technologies such as Skype. Read more »

Field Seminar

Field seminar unites nearly 100 Israeli and Palestinian Seeds

To conclude summer programming in the Middle East, nearly 100 Palestinian and Israeli Seeds who graduated from the Seeds of Peace Camp in 2007 and 2008 participated in a Field Seminar from August 14-17. Read more »

Jon Preddy at the Summit

Teen climbs highest mountain in Africa to support Seeds of Peace

Jon Preddy, a remarkable young teenager from London, decided to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro—the highest mountain in Africa—as a way to raise awareness and funds for Seeds of Peace.
Read more »

President Mahmoud Abbas

President Mahmoud Abbas meets with Seeds in New York

On September 24, 2009, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with Seeds of Peace to reaffirm his commitment to our conflict resolution and leadership programs for young people from throughout the Middle East. Read more »

Seeds lead community service projects during the holidays

Seeds of all ages led service projects in their home communities throughout the month of September. Read more »

Donate

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