Seeds Of Peace

Even as the September deadline for the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks approaches, violence erupted in the West Bank in May.

For the first time in two years, a riot of rocks and bullets escalated into a bloody gun battle among Israeli soldiers, Palestinian police and civilian activists. The clash lasted for several days and left several people dead and hundreds injured.

But in stark contrast to the rage in the Middle East, the Seeds of Peace organization in the United States works to help children of war break the cycle of violence.

Fifteen hundred Palestinian, Israeli, Turkish and Egyptian teen-agers are brought together in the serene relaxed environment of a Maine summer camp for a month of close interaction and honest dialogue.

Thousands of miles from their homeland and the fighting, they are trying to find compassion. Teen-agers are encouraged to look past religion, stereotypes and hatred.

For the last seven years, John Wallach, the camp's director and founder, has challenged one mind at a time and hoped to send the teens home as potential peacemakers.

"What Seeds of Peace is about is beginning to think for yourself," he says.

"The thing that we need is just to understand the other side. It's the most important thing," says one girl.

"I will feel differently for every Palestinian who is killed. Instead of seeing them as people who throw stones at my soldiers, I see them now as individuals," says one boy.

Explains Wallach: "I think they go home very, very different from when they arrive. I think they now know the enemy. I think the enemy has a face. The enemy is now human."