Dear petitioners, Seeds, and Seeds of Peace community members,
Thank you for sharing your voices and views with us. We rely on your input to design and carry out these programs and to continually make them stronger, and thanks to your engagement, we have evolved greatly since our founding.
Your petition asks Seeds of Peace to acknowledge the Israeli occupation, particularly on our website and in other communications. The fact is that we do recognize the occupation. This is reflected not only in the language we use in programs, but also the language we use publicly to talk about what we do and why we do it.
Many Palestinian Seeds ask to be identified as coming from Palestine, denoting a historic fact and future national goal, and Seeds of Peace has done this for years. But as you will see if you search our website or publications, it has also been Seeds of Peace’s official policy for some time to use terms like “occupied Palestinian territories,” and “Israeli occupation,” in line with the United Nations, U.S. State Department, and the international consensus regarding the status of the territories.
See, for example, these pages:
• U.S. Seeds explore Middle East through eyes of Palestinian, Israeli hosts (2011)
• Palestinian Seeds inspired by Nelson Mandela’s approach to nonviolence (2013)
• Our Voices (2014)
• Seeds and Educators run summer camps for 160 Palestinians in Gaza, West Bank (2013)
• Israeli, Palestinian Seeds explore shared water resources, environmental issues (2013)
• Camp (2009)
• Seeds lead community dialogues in Palestinian, Israeli communities (2014)
• Israeli Seeds engage in dialogue with ‘One Day After Peace’ filmmakers (2014)
We understand that your concerns aren’t just about using the word “occupation,” but also about acknowledging the realities that Seeds face—the impact of it on your lives and communities; the power imbalance inherent to occupation; the pressures Seeds face by engaging in this kind of work.
Our aim is never to deny or diminish these realities, or to ignore them in our programs. Seeds of Peace addresses these realities through programs designed to give you a powerful foundation upon which to create change. As Leslie wrote to you a few weeks ago, we exist to support you, to facilitate learning, to forge connections, to create spaces where you can learn and raise your voices to audiences that would otherwise not hear them, to shed light on these issues. The impact of this transformational process is made possible by Seeds of Peace’s model and approach.
Your work as Seeds is to then decide what to do with those experiences and knowledge, and how you want to apply them in ways that meaningfully address the many obstacles to peace you face, including military occupation.
We do this work because we envision a world in which everyone lives with safety, equality, and freedom. And we believe that actively countering dehumanization, separation, fear, and hatred is a powerful and courageous way of working towards such a world.
We respect highly organizations that work through means other than our own—advocacy, lobbying, humanitarian work—to achieve this vision. Seeds have gone on to join or start these kinds of organizations, while carrying with them the knowledge, values, inspiration, relationships, and skills from their Seeds of Peace experiences—as leaders with courage and strength, with deeper imagination, understanding, empathy, and skill.
Seeds of Peace has a distinct purpose and mandate, and we are in constant reflection and conversation with staff and Seeds in order to grow within that frame. In fact, our Middle East staff has been engaged with each other and with Seeds in a process that began this spring to assess our programs, the initial results of which have been programs focused on exposing younger Seeds to the realities faced by their peers.
Please don’t hesitate to be in touch with us or your local program staff to join these conversations. We have an open door, and will also look to create other structures for communication to ensure that one-off conversations are not lost, and that petitions are not necessary in order for you to feel heard.
We will be taking your thoughts and input into our strategy, programming, and communications discussions in the weeks and months ahead to make sure our work remains relevant and meaningful.
With love and respect,
Donna, Director of Middle East Programs: dstefano@seedsofpeace.org
Eric, Director of Communications: eric@seedsofpeace.org
Eva, Director of Global Strategy and Programs: eva@seedsofpeace.org
Leslie, Executive Director: leslie@seedsofpeace.org