JEN FISH | OTISFIELD In the aftermath of a suicide bomb attack on Israel in the 1990s, Hazem Zanoun can remember how he and his fellow Palestinians waited fearfully for Israel’s response. And then he received a telephone call. The caller was an Israeli friend Zanoun had made while attending the Seeds of Peace camp in Maine.
The phone call from an Israeli, asking him if he was OK and if he needed anything, is solid proof, Zanoun said, that Seeds of Peace does make a real difference.
“I remember thinking, ‘This is working, this is real,’ ” Zanoun said. Zanoun told his story Tuesday at a symposium on the Middle East presented by Seeds of Peace and the Mitchell Institute, two organizations dedicated to building tomorrow’s leaders.
The symposium, moderated by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, covered a wide range of topics but focused on the importance of the next generation of leaders making peace in the Middle East a reality.
Aaron David Miller, president of Seeds of Peace, told the audience that the personal relationships and contributions made by future Palestinians and Israelis will ensure a lasting peace beyond any agreements made by politicians.
“It is going to take years to turn a political agreement into real peace,” he said. “I am not going to inherit the Holy Land, they are,” Miller said, gesturing to the younger audience members wearing the green Seeds of Peace T-shirts.
Those leaders, Miller continued, will be people like Zanoun and Shira Kaplan, another Seeds graduate who participated in the symposium.
Kaplan, an Israeli, told the audience that Seeds of Peace alumni are responsible for maintaining “a cautious, realistic optimism” that disrupts the hopelessness and pessimism that have dominated the Middle East.
“Conflicts are like coins, they have two sides,” she said. “Too many people are rushing to pick sides in this conflict. We’re looking for people who can watch the conflict from both sides.”
Both Miller and Mitchell reiterated the importance of finding a peace agreement, saying it should be a priority for the United States.
“This is critical to our national interests,” Mitchell said, citing the country’s dependence on foreign oil. Speaking about his experience helping to forge peace agreements in Northern Ireland, Mitchell said that people in the Middle East must have “hope and opportunity” for there to be peace.
Miller added that while solving the Middle East problem would not end terrorism, it would help America’s credibility in the world and reduce extremism in the region.
Founded in 1993 by the late journalist and author John Wallach, Seeds of Peace brings youths from warring countries together to a summer camp in Otisfield to promote understanding, overcome prejudices and teach peaceful ways of resolving conflicts. The Mitchell Institute provides a scholarship to one student from every public high school in Maine each year and conducts research on the barriers to education for Maine students.