Top aide to former president Jimmy Carter hosts event to benefit 2nd annual summer camp for Middle East children
WASHINGTON, DC | Seeds of Peace, a first-ever summer camp for Arab and Israeli children, will benefit from a barbecue and live auction to be held on Saturday, July 16 from 1 to 4 PM. WRC-TV Meteorologist Bob Ryan and journalist/author Bernanr Kalb are co-auctioneers for the event, which is hosted by Muska and Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Adviser, and Janet and John Wallach at the Brzezinski home in McLean, Virginia.
Inaugurated in 1993 by John Wallach—Middle East expert, author, and foreign editor of Hearst Newspapers—Seeds of Peace brought together 46 Arab and Israeli boys for a historic visit to the United States. The youths, who travelled from Egypt, Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, spent two weeks at Camp Powhattan in Oxford, Maine, and a week in Washington, DC—where they were guests of honor at the September 13 White House ceremony for the signing of the Middle East peace accord.
Seeds of Peace is guided by the belief that if peace is to become a reality in the Middle East, its foundation must be launched by the next generation. As conceived by Wallach, the program gives its participants a chance to get to know one another in a relaxed and supportive environment. “It was deeply moving to watch as these exceptional children worked through their innermost fears and anxieties to form friendships with people they had formerly only known of as the Enemy,” Wallach notes. “In the face of the hatred, death and destruction that is a painful reality of daily life in their homelands, they showed the sheer courage and strength of character to form human-to-human bonds that can become the seeds of future peace.”
This summer’s second annual Seeds of Peace program involves an expanded roster of more than 100 Egyptian, Israeli and Palestinian children, including—for the first time—a contingent of young women and expected participation by a surprise Arab delegation. Participants arrive in Boston on August 17 for a 5-day orientation tour at Tufts and Harvard before going to Maine for a two-week stay beginning Monday, August 22. The delegation will visit Washington, DC from September 5 through 10. The youngsters, who are 12 to 14 years old, have been chosen as a result of nationwide competitions jointly sponsored by their governments and the private sector in an effort to assure geographic, ethnic and social diversity.
The public is invited to attend the July 16 Barbecue and Live Auction—catered to Georgetown’s Old Glory Restaurant and featuring an array of auction items including a week’s visit to Egypt highlighted by a Nile cruise, a week in London and lunch on the set of the new James Bond movie, and seats behind home plate at Camden Yards for a Baltimore Orioles game. Admission is $50 per adult and $25 per carload of children; all contributions are tax-deductible.