BY YOLANDE KNELL | MAINE, UNITED STATES The bell rings to mark the start of the next activity period at this international summer camp in Maine. Every year, more than 340 teenagers come here, most of them from Israel, Palestinian areas, and other parts of the Arab world. Every year, there is the same division. The color games, between blue and green teams, are the climax of the three weeks of activities, designed to overcome barriers of nationality and prejudice.
“I come from Jordan. I’m on the green team, yay, green!”
“I’m Lamees—Egypt. I have the green team in my head and I’ve got my green shirt right here.”
“Naama, Israel. ‘Til now, actually the blue have more points, but we’re going to win … yeah, I’m sure.”
As well as the sporting competition on display at Seeds of Peace, there is budding friendship. Matar Bar Sheshet, a 16-year-old Israeli, and Mirna Ansari, a 16-year-old Palestinian, stand close together by the soccer field, dressed in matching t-shirts.
“Back home they told me, ‘the Israelis are your enemies,’ but in here you don’t have enemies, you have friends who are from different places,” says Mirna.
“In my real life, I won’t see any Palestinians, but in the few first days I was starting to get to know them and now they are my friends,” says Matar.
At camp, Arabs and Israelis eat together, play sports together, and sleep in neighboring bunk beds. They have daily dialogue sessions with counselors to discuss their experiences of the conflict in the Middle East. Camp director Leslie Lewin says this can be life-changing.
“For so many of these kids, coming here is what it took for them to be exposed to and hear the other side of the story. You know why your people, your government, your family feels a particular way, but you don’t often know the reasons why the other side feels the way that they do.”
Leslie speeds across the water logged grass in the golf cart she uses to check up on campers, spread across the vast wooded site.
“How’s it going, ladies? You’re outside playing basketball. What a treat!”
Constant rain has posed a challenge for the Seeds of Peace organizers in recent weeks, but in the past, they faced much bigger ones. When the second Palestinian Intifada started in 2000, a former camper, a popular Arab-Israeli, was among the first killed. Since last year, it has not been possible to bring teenagers from Gaza because of the Hamas takeover. Still, co-founder Bobbie Gottschalk remains positive.
“You know, young people have an optimism that just can’t be quelled that easily and they’re chosen by their governments or some group of people that their government designates. They come as leaders, they are chosen as leaders. They come with spirit and enthusiasm.”
That spirit and enthusiasm is even to be found in the dining hall, where every lunchtime ends with a fun, table thumping contest.
Over 15 years, 4,000 young people have passed through the camp and many are part of the strong alumni network. Some Seeds have gone on to set up businesses; others are in the media, judiciary and government.
But back on the soccer field, Matar is looking into the more immediate future. Soon he will do his national service in the Israel Defense Forces.
“I think this meeting with people is going to change the way I think and the way I will treat other people during my serving, and the idea, and the way I will treat people even in my daily life.”
Mirna says she will try to keep in touch with Matar. She has learned a lot from the exchange of views.
“I could have never knew stuff about what is going on, on the Israeli side, if my friend Matar didn’t tell me. You have to listen to what the other side has to day, to try to see what can we do better.”
The hope is that this is how the seeds of peace are sown.