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FIRST LADY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
REMARKS FOR SEEDS OF PEACE VIDEO
MAY 6, 1998
I am so thankful to have this opportunity to be part of this extraordinary gathering of
young people at the First Middle East Youth Summit. I only wish I could be there in person, to
tell you how much I admire your efforts to bring peace and understanding to your communities.
I want to thank everyone who has helped bring all of you together -- but especially John Wallach,
who has devoted himself to giving you -- the children of war -- the opportunity to plant the seeds
of peace. He is an inspiration to us all.
What you are doing at this summit is an extraordinary act of courage. As young people
who have grown up surrounded by violence and hatred, you have every reason to think that the
problems you face in the Middle East are too great to overcome. Many of you have lost sisters,
or brothers, or parents, or grandparents to struggles that are centuries old. Yet you have not lost
hope. In fact, you've found the courage to defy history -- and envision a new kind of future.
In your communities -- and now here at this summit -- you have shown the world that
hatred is never a solution. That what we all share in common is far greater than what keeps us
apart. That understanding each other's histories and cultures, and respecting each other's
differences, are the foundations of a just society. That by looking into each others eyes -- we can
sometimes touch each other's hearts. Your message is particularly important now -- as the
leaders of your nations are struggling to establish a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.
Through your work with the Seeds of Peace, you know how difficult it is to overcome
hatred and misunderstanding. As one Egyptian girl said a few years ago while she was attending
a Seeds of Peace camp in the United States: "the first step we have to make right now is not only
to want peace for your own people You have to really want it, really desire it, for the others."
She want on to say that "If you are an Isreali, you have to want for all the Palestinians to feel
happy and safe and comfortable. And of you're a Palestinian, you have to want the same thing"
for the Israelis.
This girl, and all of you, have already learned the greatest lessons of all. Yet tolerance and
understanding, and the ability to come together over the lines that divide us, aren't just the tools
of international diplomacy. They are the rules by which we try to live every day -- in our
families, in our schools, and in our communities. Because it's only when these values are
honored, and are a part of our every day lives, that we will have the strength to turn our
communities -- and our nations -- toward justice and peace.
No country is immune from war, or hatred, or violence. Unfortunately, it's all around us,
in every corner of the world. But you are offering us a different vision of what the future can
hold -- a future where children can live free from violence and conflict; where every citizen can
live in dignity; and where every child is able to live up to his or her fullest potential.
My husband, the President of the United States, is working very hard for the just and
lasting peace you too are seeking. And I know he joins me in thanking all of you for what you
are doing to fulfill that vision of peace not only in the Middle East, but throughout the world.
I look forward to talking with you about what you've learned over the past few days at
this summit, and your plans for the future.
TAPED OCT.7
1996
FIRST LADY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
VIDEOTAPED REMARKS FOR THE SCREENING OF
THE ELIE WIESEL FOUNDATION'S "WAGING PEACE."
OCTOBER 29, 1996
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to be part of this
premier screening of "Waging Peace. " I would like to thank your
hosts, Michael Eisner, Michael Ovitz, and Robert Guillaume [Ghee-
yome]. And most of all, I would like to thank Elie and Marion
Wiesel, who embody the spirit of peace, understanding and
humanity that we all strive to attain.
It is easy in today's world to watch the evening news and
conclude that the problems our world faces are insurmountable.
Too many children live with hunger, poverty and homelessness;
millions of children around the world live with daily trauma and
violence -- violence born from ethnic, religious and cultural
conflicts, and violence that results from the breakdown of
family, community and other institutions that once provided an
anchor for our young.
But beyond the horror stories and tragedies, there are
people like the young men and women that the Elie Wiesel
Foundation brought together last year in Vienna who are seeking
to live in peace and understanding with their neighbors. They
know how easy it is to vilify someone you don't know. And they
are learning how challenging, and also how rewarding, it is to
treat your fellow citizens, whatever their race, ethnicity or
religion, with compassion and respect.
These young people are teaching us that hatred is never a
solution. From Ireland to the Middle East, and from Bosnia to
the streets of America's inner cities, they have lost brothers
and sisters, parents and grandparents, to struggles that are
often centuries old. Yet they have not lost hope about their or
the world's future.
I will always remember one young man I spoke with last year.
He was living in a refugee camp in Bosnia and he asked me how he
could be hopeful in the midst of such chaos and hatred. I told
him that part of the answer was there in the room with him. I
told him to look at his compatriots from other countries -- and
to look at the example of Elie Wiesel, who in some of history's
darkest nights, never lost hope that mankind would see brighter
days.
When all of us are able to raise our children without hatred
in their hearts, we will be one step closer to living in a world
at peace. A world where children can live free from violence and
conflict and where every child is able to live up to his or her
God-given potential.
Thank you all for the important work you are doing and best
wishes.
###
HOPE
The New Middle
East Peace Talks
2000.
Dr. Christiane Northrup on healing
Holiday Gifts that give twice
12>
Pat Schroeder o Muhammad Ali
and many others ON FINDING HOPE
0 0928103462 9
and other surprising
$3.95
Signs of Hope
DECEMBER 1997
At a summer camp in Maine, the
children of bitter enemies live with
the people they've been taught to
fear. It's no love-fest, but it might
be a volatile region's best chance
for building lasting peace.
Middle East
IKE ROADSIDE ICE CREAM
clumping closer and then suddenly
home safety and risk that helps kids
stands or country churches,
tripping on a well-worn root by the
grow right.
summer camps in Maine
dining lodge, as a thousand teenage
Not surprisingly then, when it came
have a reassuring orthodoxy
feet have tripped a thousand times
time to find a place for the children of
all their own. Visit one and
before. At summer camps, what you'll
Arabs and Jews-bitter enemies who
you'll probably find a line of cabins
mostly hear is laughter, and in the
have been killing each other for gener-
strung out along a lake. There will be a
spaces between the laughter, the plain-
ations-to attempt the painful and
main lodge and a jumble of lesser
tive song of a white throated sparrow
uncertain work of making peace among
structures, each with its own blend of
from the woody margins, the uncertain
themselves, a summer camp in Maine
rumpled out-of-plumbness speaking
plunk of tennis balls, and the snap of a
seemed like a natural place to locate.
of light construction and heavy winter
wet towel with its answering yelp of
To make peace, these kids need dis-
snows. On your visit, you're almost
pain. In the long inhale and exhale of
tance from their homelands. They need
certain to hear the shriek of whistles
summer days by a sandy-bottom lake,
neutral ground. The cultural, political,
from the swimming dock, the sound
what you'll surely find among the
and personal walls that separate them
of distant shouting as a well-hit
grassy spaces and dappled shade of
are incomprehensibly high. There is, in
ball arcs deep to left, dusty footfalls
camps is a special mix of away-from-
the words of contemporary historian
50
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1997
HOPE
Teenagers from the Middle East including Adi Shelag (left) of Israel and Malek Fayez of Egypt explore their
differences-and their shared humanity-in a Co-Existence Group discussion at Seeds of Peace International Camp.
Peace Talks
BY BILL MAYHER
PHOTOGRAPHS BY
SARAH PUTNAM
Mohamed Haikal, such "fury and revul-
iation and friendship. At Seeds of
how eager the kids-Wallach is saying
sion" between them, that most of the
Peace, they'll get it.
that building friendships between
teenagers chosen by their countries to
On a dazzling July morning, Seeds of
enemies is, after all, no easy thing.
attend a camp called Seeds of Peace in
Peace founder John Wallach opens this
Otisfield, Maine, have never met a
year's session with a challenge to the
ohn Wallach left a high-powered
single one of their opposite number.
teenagers gathered around him on the
journalism career to launch the
For this reason alone, they need time to
grass. "Today this is the only place in
Seeds of Peace International
talk together; they need time to listen.
the world where Israelis and Arabs can
Camp in 1993. Wallach had been
Most of the 162 campers at Seeds of
come together on neutral ground and
a
White House correspondent for thirty
Peace have traveled from Egypt, Israel,
try to be friends," he says. "Because of
years. He had broken the story of the
Palestine, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia,
this, I would ask one thing of each of
CIA mining Nicaraguan harbors, and
and even Qatar to eat American camp
you. No matter what else you do in
he had covered the Middle East. He
chow and sleep in open cabins with
your time here, make one friend from
won the National Press Club Award
people they have been taught their
the other side."
and the Overscas Press Club Award for
whole lives to hate. For taking these
In laying down his challenge-
uncovering the "arms for hostages"
risks, they deserve a chance at reconcil-
regardless how idyllic the setting, or
story that led to the Iran-Contra
HOPE
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1997
51
"I'VE LEARNED THAT THE
Catholic priests had guided his
bombing in New York City in February
ANSWER TO LIFE IS NOT THE
parents through the Pyrenees
1993. Wallach again heard the call to
POOHBAHS, IT'S THE BASICS."
to safety. Whatever the rea-
action. A month later, an idea came to
sons, in 1985, when the Cold
him: because the adults of the world
War thaw was merely a trickle,
had 50 clearly failed at peacemaking in
scandal. When few people had thought
Wallach initiated a program in what he
the Middle East, he would skip the
such a thing was possible, he had
called "citizen diplomacy" at the Chau-
present generation of leaders and go
written, with his wife Janet Wallach, a
tauqua Institute in Opstate New York to
straight to the next. He would bring
biography of the elusive Yasser Arafat.
bring together ordinary Russians and
together young people who had been
But Wallach didn't feel satisfied
Americans together to search for com-
born amid the violence and searing
being. in his words, a "fly on the wall of
mon ground. For this work, Wallach
hatreds of the region, and allow them to
history." Perhaps he felt a sense of
received the Medal of Friendship, the
explore their mutual humanity.
personal destiny because his parents
former Soviet Union's highest civilian
"I spent my whole life with the pow-
had escaped the Holocaust. Perhaps he
award. from then president Mikhail
erful." Wallach recalled in an interview
has always had an instinct for seeing
Gorbachev in 1991.
with Susan Rayfield in the Maine
beyond superficial differences because
At news of the World Trade Center
Sunday Telegram. "] can't tell you how
A Middle East Primer
he Arab-Israeli conflict is rooted in Biblical times
T
inherited from the British rule of Palestine the "British
but, for our purposes, weimight begin in 1892, when
Defense (Emergency) Regulations, it claims the right to
violentanti-Semitism in Russia stimulated a wave of
deport citizens of, Palestine, to demolish houses, to
Zionist immigrants into Palestine, pitting Jewish settlers
impose curfews and town arrest, to censor newspapers
against indigenous Palestinians in aistruggle over land
and books, and to administratively detain, all without the
both groups passionately believed was originally theirs:
necessity of judicial proceedings. Israel also allowed the
These pressures grew even moreintense after World War
founding of Jewish "settlements" for strategic and ideo-
I. With the demise of the empire of the Ottoman Turks,
logical purposes, and then provided the subsequent
Britain assumed a League of Nations Mandate to govern
logistical and military necessary to protect them.
Palestine and then, via the Balfour Declaration of Nov.
This has further exacerbated tensions and a ferocious
ember 1917, supported the establishment of a Jewish
eye for-an-eye continues to this day, with terrorist attacks
homeland-with the understanding that the rights of
by radical Palestinians countered by the harsh reprisals
indigenous Arabs would also be upheld But no formal
of Israeli extremists In:addition, the occupying Israeli
steps were taken until after World War II when, with the
army's tight grip on border check points and vital
Holocaust adding critical impetus to the Zionist dream,
resources has held the Palestinians in a state of per-
the United Nations General Assembly, November 29,
manent subjugation, which itself led to the Palestinian
1947, voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab
uprising known as the Intifada, beginning in 1987.
states. The Arab League rejected this initiative, refusing
On September 13, 1993, Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser
to give up any land to the founding of a Jewish home-
Arafat came to the White House to sign a peace accord
land.
negotiated in Oslo, Norway, in which the Palestinians
On May 14, 1948, when the British mandate. expired,
agreed to end their call for the destruction of the state of
Zionist leaders proclaimed the State of Israel. In answer,
Israel in return for the beginnings of national autonomy
the Arabs invaded Israel with the intent of eliminating it
that would ultimately lead to the creation of a Palestinian
as a political entity, but Israel managed to survive the
State. As a result of the Peace Accord; the Palestinians
assault and, in the ensuing years, settled into uneasy
were allowed to establish their own freely-elected
nationhood surrounded by a hostile population of
government in Gaza and expand their authority to other
displaced Palestinians and other Arabs.
parts of the West Bank, including the biblical city of
Following Israel's decisive victory in the Six Day War
Hebron. The promise of this accord proved to be short-
of 1967, animosities grew more intense. Israel occupied
lived, however. Yitzak Rabin was assassinated in Novem-
territories it had won in the war: Arab East Jerusalem, the
ber 1995 by a right-wing Israeli who claimed Rabin had
Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, and
sold out to the Palestinians. Rabin was succeeded by
the West Bank of the Jordan River. Except for Sinai,
Shimon Peres of the Labor Party, but, Peres was then
which Israel returned to Egypt in the peace negotiated at
narrowly defeated by the conservative Likud party of
Camp David in 1978, and the modest territories in Gaza
Benjamin Netanyahu. While agreeing to honor the
and the West Bank that Israel later relinquished to the
Arafat-Rabin treaty in principle, the Likud government
Palestinians, the Jewish State has continued to occupy
has continued its hard-line policies toward the Palestini-
and administer the territory it conquered. Using a code
ans.
-B.M.
52
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1997
HOPE
Above: Seeds of Peace staffer Tim Wilson has
a talent for keeping things lively and under
of Peace
ds of Peace
control at the same time. Right: Founder and
former journalist John Wallach joins campers
national Camp
chational.Camp
in the opening celebration.
many times I've been on Air Force One,
acquiescence little short of miraculous.
war to learn the art of peace." In her
or with the White House pool, or world
Serendipity intervened when Wal-
speeches. Secretary of State Madeleine
leaders. I had a lot of power as a jour-
lach found that a Camp Powhatan in
Albright has mentioned Seeds of Peace
nalist. I've learned that the answer to
Otisfield, Maine, would let him use its
as a bright spot on an otherwise dark
life is not the poohbahs, it's the basics.
facility after the camp's regular session
Middle East horizon. Yasser Arafat has
The coming home to Maine. To what is
ended. Touring the camp, Wallach met
said, "Seeds of Peace represents the
human in all of us, that ties us together
Tim Wilson, Powhatan's co-director.
hope and the aim which we are work-
as human beings."
whom he immediately recognized as a
ing to realize, namely just peace in the
Wallach needed staff, kids, and a
Maine-camp classic with his own daz-
land of peace." Before he was assassi-
facility to realize his vision. He found
zling bag of tricks for keeping things
nated, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak
his first staffer, Executive Director Bar-
lively and yet under control at the same
Rabin noted after meeting with
bara "Bobbie" Gottschalk, in Washing-
time. An inner-city teacher and football
campers, "Witnessing young Arabs and
ton, D.C. Gottschalk's book group had
coach around the steel mills of Pitts-
Israelis together gives me great hope
invited Wallach and his wife to discuss
burgh, Wilson is as good at the up-in-
that soon all Arabs and Israelis can live
their book on Arafat and afterwards, he
front-of-everybody bluster that keeps
normal lives side-by-side."
shared his vision for Seeds of Peace.
things cooking as he is at the quiet
Gottschalk was so intrigued, she left a
arm-around-the-shoulder buck-up that
he new arrivals, all between ages
secure job as a clinical social worker to
helps an exhausted and melancholy
T
thirteen and eighteen, plunge
join him.
adolescent get through another day. So
into the usual sports and games,
To find kids for his camp, Wallach
in the summer of 1993 with a camp
ready to fulfill the camp's mis-
approached the Middle East's major
facility and a core staff in place, Wal-
sion to make peace among themselves.
players, each of whom he personally
lach had assembled the basics of what
That is, until the hard work begins.
knew: Yasser Arafat, the Chairman of
would become Seeds of Peace.
Staff assign campers to Co-Existence
the Palestine Liberation Organization;
In four short years, the camp has
groups, where the most intense, and
Yitzhak Rabin, the Prime Minister of
won awards including a 1997 Peace
arguably the most important, work of
Israel; and Hosni Mubarak, the Presi-
Prize from the United Nations Educa-
the camp occurs. Here, campers learn
dent of Egypt. "Trust me with your
tional, Science and Cultural Organiza-
to listen to the histories and feelings of
children," Wallach asked each of the
tion (UNESCO), and drawn accolades
age-old enemies and begin to move
beleaguered men. "Give me the next
from world leaders. Kofi Annan, Secre-
toward accommodation and ultimately,
generation. Give them a chance to
tary General of the United Nations,
empathy. Led by pairs of trained facili-
escape the poison." His years of jour-
wrote in a letter to Seeds of Peace this
tators, these groups of about fourteen
nalistic engagement and fairness were
year, "There is no more important ini-
campers meet daily in a cycle of three
to have an unforeseen payoff: all three
tiative than bringing together young
sessions, and then move on together to
leaders answered Wallach's plea, an
people who have seen the ravages of
a new pair of facilitators who, using a
HOPE
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1997
53
Seeds
01
IT IS A CAMP THAT COMPELS THEM TO
deValle ask individu-
as a metaphor for issues of personal and
LOOK THEIR ENEMY IN THE EYE AND BEGIN
als in the group to
collective space. The kids' individual
share with a partner
designs-stick figures of people,
TO KNOW THEIR ENEMY'S HEART.
a personal story of
houses, stars, and suns-soon expand
prejudice each has
to cover the entire table. The facilitators
variety of techniques including oral
suffered. and then have that partner
then start with the questions. "Were
history, role playing and role reversal,
report the story to the entire group-
there borders there for you?" one facil-
art, and drama, teach effective listening
a well-known technique that builds
itator asks. "There were borders on the
and negotiating skills. The group work
listening skills among the youngsters
table. Whoever was stronger took more
is at first designed to create a safe space
and, as they tell each other's stories,
space," a camper replies. "The quick
between participants. The facilitators
helps put them into each other's shoes.
and the strong get it all," adds another.
then direct the group toward more
An Arab girl tells of being snubbed
"Let's relate this to Jerusalem," the facil-
difficult issues.
on the Internet by members of her
itator then suggests, giving the kids
In one group, facilitators Linda
chat group when they discovered she
fresh angles of approach to discuss this
Carol Pierce and Janis Astor de Valle
was from Jordan. She relates how one
contentious and emotional issue. The
delve into intense racial tensions in
of them shot back, "Isn't that where
debate that ensues is spirited, often
Brooklyn, New York. Their role-play, in
people with bombs come from?" and
heated, but it is also respectful because
which a black camper from Bedford
refused to acknowledge her further,
both sides have established the need to
Stuyvesant runs into a white camper
letting her twist in cyberspace-a new
honor each other's "space."
from Bensonhurst. starts out as friendly
style victim of a very old disease.
Through the process of working
banter. Suddenly, it veers into a dra-
In another group, campers who
with different facilitators-each with
matic shouting match recapitulating
already have represented the opposi-
different strategies-campers cannot
incidents of muggings and mob murder
tion's side in a mock Middle East nego-
avoid getting down to the most stub-
that continue to divide their neighbor-
tiating session are now allowed to
born problems that divide them. There
hoods to this day. As the actors shout at
present their own points of view in
is too much bad blood, too much his-
each other. "You people." this. and "You
debating who should have control over
tory to let campers play at peace like
people," that, campers see graphically
Jerusalem. But before the teenagers
they play at tennis. This camp, by
that bone-deep prejudice is not con-
begin, the facilitators ask them to
Wallach's own design, is no feel-good
fined to the Middle East.
assemble pictures from colored tooth-
paradise; rather it is a camp that
Following the role-play. Pierce and
picks in a tabletop exercise that serves
compels them to look their enemy in
54
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1997
HOPE
Playing hard outside and talking hard inside, campers work out their differences and search for common ground.
Opposite: Baseball and tug-of-war are just two events in the Color Games, a competitive crescendo in the camp's
final days that uses teamwork to melt boundaries and foster new friendships like the one between Israeli Edi
Spitz and Palestinian Adhem Rishmawi (bottom left). Above: Indoors, teenagers from opposite sides of the Middle
East conflict begin to forge bonds by interpreting one another's drawings of safety. trust, and personal risk,
and by listing things they all share in common.
the eye and in doing so, begin to know
across the entire spectrum of camp
can and must be a shared thing.
their enemy's heart. When the kids get
sports and activities. Every camper has
Perhaps Egyptian camper Silvana
down to it in the groups, Wallach says,
to contribute, the efforts of each essen-
Naguib said it best in a film made at the
"It doesn't take them very long to real-
tial to the whole. It is raucous, loud,
camp several years ago: "The first step
ize that they don't like each other very
dusty, and hilarious: transcendent par-
we have to make right now is not only
much."
tisanship forging white-hot loyalties-
to want for your own people
You
if only for the moment.
have to really, really want, really desire
S they hash out their deep-
As the Color Games rush toward the
for the others. If you are an Israeli, you
A
seated differences, the kids at
final events, in the age-old tradition of a
have to want for all the Palestinians to
Seeds of Peace also spend
summer camp, it becomes increasingly
feel happy and feel safe and feel
plenty of time on the playing
impossible for the participants to assess
comfortable. If you're a Palestinian
field-a few individual events, but
with any precision what it might actu-
you want the same thing [for the
mostly team sports that put individuals
ally take to win. The totals for each
Israelis]. All the people in the country
from opposing political factions on the
team remain maddeningly close until,
have to really want everyone else to
same team: baseball, tennis, lacrosse,
in the final event, one team surges to
be happy."
soccer, swimming, volleyball, relay
capture the crown only to discover
races, basketball. The theory is that in
that, in fact, there is no actual prize for
n July, 30, 1997, a double
the heat of competition, young people
the hard fought victory except the
will become teammates and forget the
opportunity to give an enthusiastic
O
suicide bombing by radical
Palestinians tears through a
elemental differences that brought
cheer for the losing team and to jump
Jerusalem marketplace called
them here.
in the lake first.
Mahane Yehuda, killing fourteen Israelis
Nowhere is this more apparent than
At this moment, the Color Games
and wounding more than 150 others.
in the Color Games, a competitive
become a metaphor for sharing the vic-
The horror of the attack is captured by
crescendo in the final days of the camp.
tory equally between "winners" and
Serge Schmemann writing in the New
Guided by the skilled (and wily) hand
"losers." After days of running their
York Times: "Witness after witness
of Tim Wilson, the camp is divided into
guts out and shouting over the tree-
recited the same litany of flame, flesh,
two teams: Greens and Blues. Tee shirts
tops, the campers begin to understand
and horror. They described bodies cov-
are donned, separate cheers invented.
that most elusive of truths: People on
ered with fruits and shoes; a man sitting
The teams are then turned loose to
each side of a conflict must be truly
on his motorbike dead; limbs flying."
relentlessly compete against each other
satisfied if there is to be peace; victory
Reports of the bombing rip through
HOPE
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1997
55
Seeds of Peace as well. When the news
breaks, John Wallach addresses the
camp as a whole. Special groups are
formed with facilitators to help
campers ride out the emotional storm.
In the first hours, a deep sense of
mourning and sympathy pervades the
camp. In the next few days, as the
initial shock wears off, the work in
Co-Existence Groups takes on a harder
edge; it becomes more difficult to
maintain safe space and good listening.
At this point, says facilitator Cindy
Cohen, "It's almost impossible for kids
to [acknowledge] the suffering of the
other side without feeling it as an
attack."
In the groups, tension is palpable
and harsh phrases fly: "Palestine does
not exist!" "Israel has no culture!" "You
people always bring up the Holocaust
Campers go wild when their team scores a basket at the height of the Color Games.
to justify everything you have done to
us." Historical interpretations are shot
human beings. It is the tradition of this
After his request was approved, he had
like missiles; it is raining verbal
camp that, amid the games and cheer-
to stand in line for another four or five
SCUDS. Of this phase Wallach says,
ing and fireside songs, amid the long,
hours to cross into Jerusalem to visit
"You could leave a Co-Existence Group
hot days of talk, trust will be built on
his friend who lived only twelve kilo-
and feel pretty discouraged by the
the simple idea that if each side listens
meters away. And that was before the
depths of anger you see there. But it's all
attentively enough to the other, each
bombings.
part of the process of peacemaking. It is
will at long last realize there is no alter-
Luckily, there is e-mail to keep
the beginning of wisdom."
native to peace.
kids communicating with camp friends,
At first it's hard to see much in the
Wallach's charge to make one friend
and Wallach and executive director
way of either peacemaking or wisdom
from the other side seemed like a mod-
Gottschalk-who maintains contact
happening. It just looks like bickering.
est goal in the first, euphoric days of
with all of the kids-have developed
But then, through the sluiceways of
camp. In the darker days following the
other techniques for helping them stay
talk, one suddenly glimpses-washing
bombing, it seems nearly unreachable.
in touch. A full-time coordinator in
along amid the hard, gray slag of
This is the point when a paradox
the Middle East works at establishing
ancient enmities-bright nuggets of
embedded in the way Seeds of Peace
events for alumni, who also write
reconciliation: "I can understand your
works becomes clear: The pain of the
feature articles for the organization's
fears." "Everyone has the same sort
journey is the very thing that insures
quarterly newspaper, The Olive Branch.
of pain
We share that." "We hear
both its validity and its durability.
Two years ago, King Hussein of Jordan
history repeats itself, and that's really
Without hardening-off at camp, the
welcomed 200 campers to a Seeds of
scary." "If we can't compromise here.
tender shoots of reconciliation nour-
Peace reunion in Jordan and symboli-
how can we expect two whole coun-
ished there won't be hardy enough to
cally donned a Seeds of Peace necktie.
tries to compromise?" Finally in one
survive transplanting to the rocky,
combative session, a particularly hard-
unyielding soil of their homelands.
owards the end of camp, evi-
line Israeli boy turns and looks into the
Role-playing and other group work
gives the campers a sense of how to
T
dence of friendship is every-
eyes of the Palestinian youth next to
where-in arms casually twined
him-a boy who was jailed at the age of
cope with the re-entry process. But
around another, in easy banter
eight during the Intifada, and who saw
when the teens return home, they will
and teasing. Hazem Zaanon from Gaza
his uncle killed by Israeli soldiers. The
still face formidable obstacles to keep-
and Noa Epstein from just outside
Israeli boy says, "1 can't guarantee that
ing in touch with new friends from the
Jerusalem are hoarse from cheering and
my government won't kill your people,
other side-especially since the suicide
flushed with excitement about the
but I can guarantee that I won't."
bombing has led Israel to impose even
Color Games. Hazem says that he got to
In the days ahead, the kids will
stricter control over border check-
know Noa at their lunch table when
be allowed to exhaust themselves in
points. A Palestinian camper explains
they "just began to talk, first about
passionate arguments-no matter how
that he had to stand in line for four
Palestine and Israel, but then about
futile. Eventually they will reach the
hours to apply for a pass into
everything. We became friends because
point when they look across the abyss
Jerusalem. He then had to wait about a
everyone listened to the other's part,
that divides them and finally see other
month for the pass to be processed.
explains Hazem. "We became easy in
56
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1997
HOPE
this. We listened and respected each
The Future of Seeds of Peace
other without yelling and screaming.
Noa agrees: "Camp is wonderful for me.
Seeds of Peace is an expensive operation that, independent as
I wouldn't have made a Palestinian
it is of government funding, calls for intense annual fund rais-
friend back home." She then speaks of
ing to cover the tuition and transportation for all its campers, as
the "easy" luxury of time with her
well as to pay for the salaries and costs of running the camp.
friend, "not in Co-Existence groups, but
Fortunately this year, with a long-term lease of the former Camp
eating lunch and playing ball games.
Powhatan property, Seeds of Peace has found a permanent
Things that require friendship." Of
home. This will enable John Wallach to eventually expand the
course each of them knows it will be
mission of the camp to three, three-week sessions every sum-
hard to keep in touch when "they face
mer for children from other regions. Several years ago the camp
reality back home." But, Noa adds, "1
included delegations from Bosnia and Serbia. Wallach would
think we have taken a step toward a
new reality."
like to continue this tradition by inviting other groups involved
Whether this new reality is to be
in long-standing conflicts: Protestants and Catholics from
born in the region may end up being a
Northern Ireland, Greeks and Turks, white and black South
matter of sheer numbers. When this
Africans, and American inner-city youths.
-B.M.
year's campers return home, there will
be 800 Seeds of Peace graduates in the
region; next year close to 1,000. The
Arab-Israeli conflict has been fought out
in a tiny theater of operations. For the
most part this geographic compression
has intensified the struggle, allowing
enemies to throw rocks at each other,
shoot into each other's homes, launch
eds
inter-neighborhood rocket attacks,
cross the street to blow each other up.
If every problem contains its own
of
Peac
Internati
solution, the solution in this case is to
unleash what Wallach-now a Senior
Fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace-
tional
Cam
calls a "small army" of peacemakers.
Kids who can speak clearly and listen
carefully. Kids who have learned to
negotiate patiently and who know that
to achieve peace, each side must leave
the table feeling safe. Kids who, by any
accounting, are among the best their
countries have to offer. Kids who, as
Wallach predicts to the camp, will
surely return to Seeds of Peace as the
presidents or prime ministers of their
countries. Kids like Noa and Hazem
who have had the courage and supple-
ness of mind to make a friend from the
other side, who have combined to make
a double-play together, dished-off for a
winning basket, collaborated on a
sculpture. Kids who together have
watched the moon rise over a lake, and
in its soft light seen that their enemy
has a human face and known, in that
moment, something of their enemy's
heart.
Bill Mayher, a former teacher and college
counselor, is a freelance writer and frequent
contributor to Hope.
57