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November 1, 2002/Cheshvan 26 5763, Vol. 55, No. 10
Planting 'Seeds of Peace'
BARRY COHEN
Editor
A group of local teenagers recently devoted an October school night to listen to a Muslim from Syria and a Jew from Memphis tackle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Desert Mountain High School Tolerance Club invited Dr. M.K. Jasser, Valley physician, and me to help them get a better grasp of this multi-layered low-grade war.
During that session, while we attempted to dissect how the Israelis and the Palestinians have spiraled downward into violence, they taught us about a program they support whose mission is to lower the flame under the Israeli-Palestinian pressure cooker, and person by person, foster tolerance and understanding.
That program is Seeds of Peace.
Journalist John Wallach founded Seeds of Peace in 1993 when he proposed to then-Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres the idea of bringing Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian youth to neutral ground in the United States. Since then, Seeds of Peace has brought hundreds of young people from many nations to a camp in backwoods Maine every summer. Through recreation, sports and daily conflict resolution sessions, the participants voice their frustrations and learn about their anger, pain, hopes and dreams. Wallach, who died July 10 at age 59, described the camp as a "detox program to get rid of all the hatred that we have built up inside."
Seeds of Peace has grown beyond the confines of its New England camp. It also includes the Seeds of Peace Center for Coexistence in Jerusalem, where participants use school presentations and cross-cultural exchanges to maintain the inroads they made in the United States; they also use Web technology to communicate with camp participants, overcoming the geo-political conflicts that separate them.
One goal of the local Tolerance Club is to support Seeds of Peace by sending five students to the camp in Maine - at a cost of $2,500 per student - to bring together adversaries and create lasting relationships.
That October evening with the Tolerance Club was not the first time that Jasser and I spent time together. Dating back nearly a year and a half, we have shared numerous meals, relating our experiences growing up a world apart. While he and I were never enemies, we have successfully moved beyond tolerance - a mere acceptance of each other's existence - to mutual understanding, respect, compassion and friendship.
I learned at the Tolerance Club that what Jasser and I have accomplished is what Seeds of Peace is trying to foster with its participants.
Seeds of Peace presents both a lofty vision and tangible plans to grow the bloom of peace from the world's rubble of despair.
We can support the efforts of the Desert Mountain High School Tolerance Club to raise the money to support Seeds of Peace.
For more information, visit the Web site, www.seedsofpeace.org or call Susan Mashburn, teacher sponsor of the Tolerance Club, 480-231-4520.
Contact the writer at barry_cohen@jewishaz.com.
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