Seeds of Peace ROBERT SIEGEL, host: The newspaper man John Wallach died Wednesday of lung cancer. John left behind, in addition to his wife and children, his ongoing experiment in idealism. It’s called Seeds of Peace, a summer camp he started in Maine in 1993 that was originally for Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian teenagers. It was later expanded to children from several countries plagued by war and violence. Even in this summer of fear and despair in the Middle East, there … FULL STORY

NEW YORK | John Wallach, a former journalist who went on to create an internationally renowned peace camp, died of cancer Wednesday afternoon. He was 59. Wallach founded the Seeds of Peace Camp in 1993 to bring together teenagers from Middle Eastern countries that would normally never meet or talk to each other back home. The co-ed teens—Arab and Israeli, Muslim and Jew—live together in bunks, share meals in a common dining hall, play sports, and engage in stereotype-breaking, group rap … FULL STORY

OTISFIELD, MAINE | Sapna Rasoul, a small, ponytailed girl, enjoys making friends and playing basketball at the Seeds of Peace Camp in the Maine woods, far from her native Afghanistan. But as other girls splash around by the swimming dock, she’s thinking about being somewhere else: school. Rasoul, 15, started attending school just six months ago after the Taliban’s rule came to an end. Education is a priority because she wants to help her people as a lawyer, or a … FULL STORY

BY ANN S. KIM | OTISFIELD, MAINE Sapna Rasoul, a small ponytailed girl, enjoys making friends and playing basketball at the Seeds of Peace camp in the Maine woods, far from her native Afghanistan. But as other girls splash around by the swimming dock, she’s thinking about being somewhere else: school. Rasoul, 15, started attending school just six months ago, after the Taliban’s rule came to an end. Education is a priority because she wants to help her people as … FULL STORY

BY JOSIE HUANG | There are no wailing sirens or shelled storefronts by this lakeside camp in western Maine, only pine trees that cast soft shadows and wooden cabins lined up like Monopoly houses. But Ethan Schechter knows that scenes from their war-torn homelands will haunt the 166 teenagers arriving today for the Seeds of Peace conflict resolution camp. And, as part of a crew of 45 counselors, he has undergone the training—unlike anything found at other camps—to help counselors … FULL STORY

Seeds of Peace camp works to dispel the hatred and misconceptions dividing nations, citizens BY RUTH ANDREW ELLENSON | When Bushra Jawabri, now 20, a Palestinian refugee from the West Bank, arrived in Maine for a summer camp session at Seeds of Peace, she was terrified at the thought of sleeping in a cabin with her sworn enemy. “I remember at the opening ceremony I was afraid to introduce myself because that person might be Israeli, and the picture I … FULL STORY

BY JENNY BADNER | In New York, Wednesday, the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children honored two pairs of friends dedicated to promoting peace across ethnic barriers. Zejeneba Srajlik’s husband was killed and her son was captured in 1992, when the Yugoslav army tried to rid her town in Bosnia and Herzegovina of all non-Serbs. But ten years later, Mrs. Srajlik, who is Muslim and speaks English with the aid of a translator, is working for reconciliation with Serbs … FULL STORY

BY AMY SACKS | They grew up only miles apart, but Koby Sadan and Fadi Elsalameen never dreamed they could ever be friends. Yesterday, Elsalameen, who is Palestinian, and Sadan, an Israeli, stood side by side at a Palm Sunday service at Manhattan’s Marble Collegiate Church. There, they shared their childhood experiences of mutual hatred for each other’s nationalities and expressed their dreams for peace in the Middle East. “I grew up to believe the Israelis hated us, [and that] … FULL STORY

BY MEREDITH GOAD | The landscape, gray, black and smoldering, still looks shocked. As the young activists from the Maine-based Seeds of Peace program gazed at the vortex of death splayed in front of them, there were floods of tears and hugs of comfort. Supported by two friends, Shani, a 17-year-old from Israel, went inside the remains of the World Trade Center complex where her cousin died. She emerged with eyes red from tears, shocked at the size of the hole. … FULL STORY