BY AVITAL LOURIA HAHN | On March 5, Uri Neeman, 16, met with PLO Chariman Yasir Arafat in New York. Neeman had participated in Seeds of Peace, a program conducted in the U.S., where teenagers from Arab countries and Israelis share a summer camp experience as well as a stop at Harvard University and a Washington meeting with Vice President Al Gore and other American leaders.
When Neeman presented the organization’s award to Chairman Arafat, the teenager remembers, “I told him ‘You must keep on going to create peace for us, to create a coexisting society in the Middle East. I know it is going to continue to be difficult. But the only chance to do it is if you and the Israeli government keep looking for peace.'”
Arafat looked visibly moved and gave the teenager two kisses on the cheek.
During a Seeds of Peace Reunion in June ’96, Neeman also met King Hussein at his palace in Amman, Jordan.