NEW YORK | It is with great sadness that Seeds of Peace reports that its Founder and President, John Wallach, passed away on Wednesday, July 10, 2002 after a long battle with non-smokers lung cancer.
After years of witnessing conflict and bloodshed while reporting on the Middle East, John decided to actively work to end the violence. Seeking to provide an alternative to terror and inspire hope, in 1993 John began Seeds of Peace by bringing Arab and Israeli teenagers together at a summer camp in Maine. The Seeds of Peace program now brings hundreds of youth identified by their governments as among the best and brightest to live together at the summer camp and learn to develop empathy, respect, communication/negotiation skills, confidence, and hope – the building blocks for peaceful coexistence. In its 10-year history, Seeds of Peace has grown into an international organization with over 2000 “Seeds” from 22 nations including the Middle East (Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Yemen, Tunisia, and Qatar), Pakistan, India, Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo, and Macedonia. In the summer of 2002, John proudly introduced a delegation of 12 youth from Afghanistan.
“John Wallach left a legacy of peace builders, people who care about each other, even when they disagree or are different,” said Bobbie Gottschalk, Executive Vice President of Seeds of Peace. “Very few people leave behind the vast potential that John left for this world.”
The Seeds of Peace flag is flying at half-mast today at its Center for Coexistence in Jerusalem and its international camp in Otisfield, Maine. While camp activities continue, the Seeds of Peace community and its campers have felt this great loss. Speaking from camp, Israeli and Palestinians together expressed their sadness but also the hope that John’s voice and message will continue and help inspire their future.
Jewish-Israeli, Aklile Kebede, said, “Most of us didn’t know John but I’m sure that all of us are thankful for him, for building this place that teaches us what the other side thinks and that we can live in coexistence.”
Jamal Abuzant, Palestinian, also expressed his sadness. “John was the person who gave me hope and in times like this, hope is what keeps me going. John showed me what life should be like, the life I never would have tasted if it wasn’t for his dream – Seeds of Peace. His death will not slow me down and it won’t make me give up, but it will push me forward with greater momentum to live up to his dream and make it a reality.”
John Wallach’s achievements and the Seeds of Peace program have won acclaim by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Anan, President George W. Bush, former President Bill Clinton, Secretaries of State Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright, Warren Christopher, and Henry Kissinger. World leaders from Israel, Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority have expressed their admiration for his effort to create peacemakers of the future.
“We are greatly saddened by the recent passing of Seeds of Peace founder John Wallach and we will miss him,” said Secretary of State Colin Powell in a U.S. Department of State statement. “Both Democratic and Republican administrations supported this extraordinary program, and I hosted the “Seeds” kids at the Department last summer. John was a trusted friend and colleague of many in this building for many years and his contributions will not be forgotten.”
Seeds of Peace has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, People Magazine, on ABC, CBS and NBC network programs including “Nightline” with Ted Koppel, “60 Minutes” with Morley Safer, “Sunday Morning,” “The Today Show,” and “Good Morning America,” as well as on CNN, PBS and NPR.
From 1968 to 1994, Mr. Wallach worked for Hearst Newspapers first as a reporter, and then as Foreign Editor. His articles were syndicated in over 300 publications through The New York Times News Service. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, he was seen regularly on PBS’ “Washington Week in Review,” on many CNN programs, on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and other network news shows. In 1980 he was named the BBC’s First Visiting Foreign Affairs Correspondent and was a regular contributor to NPR, BBC and CBC. Among the stories he broke during his journalistic career are the Iran-Contra scandal, for which he received the National Press Club’s highest honor (The Edwin Hood Award), and the CIA’s covert mining of the Nicaraguan harbors. Mr. Wallach also received the highest diplomatic award from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, two Overseas Press Club awards, and the B’nai Brith Humanitarian Award for helping publicize the plight of Soviet dissidents. He was the founding editor of WE/Mbl, the first independent weekly newspaper in Russia, and was the creator of the Chautauqua Conference on U.S.-Soviet Relations, for which he received the 1991 Medal of Friendship, the highest civilian award, from President Mikhail Gorbachev. President Jimmy Carter also presented him with the Congressional Correspondents Award for his coverage of the 1978 Israeli-Egyptian Camp David accords.
In 1997-98, Mr. Wallach was a Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) that published his book The Enemy Has A Face: The Seeds of Peace Experience. He was a teaching fellow of the Woodrow Wilson National Foundation. His awards included honorary doctorate degrees from Middlebury College and the University of Southern Maine; his selection as “Washingtonian of the Year” by Washingtonian Magazine; UNESCO Peace Prizes awarded in 1998 and 2000 and the prestigious Legion of Honor presented by His Late Majesty King Hussein of Jordan.
On August 2, 2001, the Hon. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio honored John Wallach at the 107th Congressional Session. On June 3, 2002, John Wallach spoke publicly for the last time at the Seeds of Peace Annual Gala at Carnegie Hall to an audience of over 2,000 supporters of the program.
Mr. Wallach, who was 59 years old, co-authored with his wife Janet Wallach three books: a biography, Arafat: In The Eyes of the Beholder (with a foreword by Shimon Peres); Still Small Voices and The New Palestinians. John is survived by his wife and two sons: David, author of Make Love Not War (Little & Brown) and Michael, a graduate of Cornell University and creator of “Teaching Peace,” a CD-ROM for high schools in the Middle East and the developing world.