BY SARAH WILDMAN | Ned Lazarus ’95, regional director for Seeds of Peace, recalls the first time he heard of the organization: “It was on TV in the MPR room of the Campus Center—September 13, 1993—the day of the signing of Oslo.” Seeds of Peace had a delegation of kids on hand to watch the historic event live—a row of green T-shirts that stuck in Ned’s mind.
A Seeds of Peace summer camp in Maine led him to combine work with young people and an intense interest in the Middle East fueled by a semester on the Wesleyan Program in Israel.
Armed with the prestigious DOROT scholarship for a year of study and work in Israel, Lazarus arrived in Jerusalem determined to work towards building the foundations of partnership between Palestinians and Israelis.
In the three years since establishing his small home/office in the Rehavia neighborhood of Jerusalem, Lazarus has served as a facilitator for a slew of cultural exchanges between Jewish Israelis, Arab Israelis, Palestinians, and Jordanians. “Kids say they wanted to visit each other,” Ned says simply, sipping a large coffee at Moment, a hip Jerusalem café that serves as his second office. But it wasn’t that simple, he reflects, to break down the long held fears and stereotypes—the barriers posed by each teen’s family. “Now, 40 Israeli kids have gone to visit friends in the West Bank at least one time, and more than 50 Palestinians have visited friends in Israel and/or spoken at schools.” Ned has escorted all of those trips, crisscrossing Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza as fluidly as any international diplomat.
In addition to the home visits, there have been two trips to Jordan, one delegation of Jordanians who have visited Israel, and a number of school presentations where Palestinians and Israelis talk about Seeds of Peace to a local high school. In two years, Ned has set up 20 presentations in Israeli schools, one in the West Bank and one in Jordan. “Every time we go we get kids who want to be a part of it,” Ned says, with some satisfaction.
And he has a favorite story about President Bill Clinton’s visit and these teens:
“This year, when Clinton came to the Middle East, he and [then-Prime Minister] Netanyahu spoke to 1,000 Israeli high school students. Our organization, Seeds of Peace, had managed to get seats for 70 of our kids. I wasn’t there—I was in the car listening …
“Netanyahu’s speech began placidly enough, commending those chosen to be there that day as future leaders, but then Netanyahu said, ‘Palestinians move freely throughout the country. They shop in Tel Aviv, go to the beaches in Netanya and Eilat’ and I am getting sick.”
“I spend half my life getting permission for 14-year-old Palestinians to meet 14-year-old Israelis. Instead of learning who Palestinians are by meeting Palestinians, a politician is telling these kids who Palestinians are, so they will be afraid. I’m getting really mad by now. Netanyahu is saying, ‘Palestinians move freely about the country; they have wonderful lives.’ And then he says, ‘We welcome them … but who here thinks that he could possibly go to Gaza?’
“And, in the background I hear those 70 kids say, ‘Me! I can! I can!’ And I was so proud because Seeds of Peace has enabled 40 Israeli kids to visit their friends in the Palestinian Authority. They have been to family homes … They know that Jericho is a city. They even know that Gaza—even ‘terrifying’ Gaza —they want to go to Gaza. They’re curious; they want to see their friends. Those 40 kids will be among the leaders of the next generation in Israel. They will challenge that perception, like they did that day.”