Asel, 17, Killed By Violence in the Middle East
Asel Asleh is the first Seed graduate to have lost his life in the ongoing battle between Israelis and Palestinians.
On behalf of Seeds everywhere, we mourn the tragic loss of this sensitive, caring and articulate individual. On behalf of the whole Seeds of Peace family, I extend our deepest condolences to his family and hundreds of Arab and Israeli friends.
All of us have a responsibility now to remember Asel for his courageous acts of leadership and for overcoming the legacy of hatred into which he was born. Asel’s father spent five years in an Israeli prison and yet emerged as a defender of his son’s commitment to peace. Asel believed that he had a duty to support Palestinians when they protested Israeli occupation, as he put it, to go to riots, to talk, to argue. He felt a deep tie to the Palestinian people and to helping them fight for their rights to statehood and independence.
But he also understood that riots and protests, however violent, would never—by themselves—achieve those goals. That is why Asel became an important architect of the Charter of Villars, drafted by Israeli and Palestinian seeds at the 1998 Swiss summit. It called for the sharing of Jerusalem as the capital of two states. That is why Asel was one of the proudest and most committed graduates of Seeds of Peace. He regularly visited the homes of Israelis and Palestinians, invited them to his home, contributed to The Olive Branch and to Seedsnet, spoke to high school students and only two weeks ago was the emcee of the talent show at the Center for Coexistence.
Asel was actively working for a better future not only for his friends in Seeds of Peace but for all Arabs and Israelis. He remembered that when he came to camp for the first time, it was hard for him to distinguish between the Israeli Government and their people. He said he discovered that while Israel had committed many injustices against him and the Arab people, the young man playing baseball against me is not my enemy … and that’s what is important.
No one said it is easy to be a Seed, especially in times like this. Each of us is made up of many parts, some good and some bad. We all have tempers; we shout and scream when we become angry. We are often impatient and intolerant to others. And yet we also have that within us that inspires hope and courage. Shouq, a Jordanian Seed, once said we have to go to war with ourselves before the better side can emerge. But it is there. It takes enormous courage for any seed to disagree with his or her government. It takes even more courage to lead your people away from war when everyone around you wants revenge and bloodshed. It takes courage to lead your leaders.
I am sure that Asel was proud to be protesting against what he perceived as Israeli injustice. He had every right to feel that way. And yet the same Asel wrote that Seeds of Peace is the best thing that happened to all of us. Why? Because he said it gave him hope. Even more important it gave him the chance to change the future so that other Israelis and Palestinians would not have to die. Asel understood that. When we became Seeds we took in our hands a responsibility, he said. It is our job now to do it the right way no matter what—a job we all made a commitment to, not because we have to but because we want to. He gave his life for his people. But he dedicated his life to something more—to the vision of a future when his people and all people would be able to live together and enjoy the benefits of peace. Asel did not die in vain but as a symbol of hope to future generations. He had a vision of what peace would be like. You will be able to live in a place where an ID isn’t needed as well as passports or checkpoints, he wrote in The Olive Branch. Our mission is to realize his dreams despite all the obstacles against us. Asel would not want us to give up. When your voice becomes a voice of a leader, no one will care for your ID, he wrote. Asel was already a leader. I hope you will help Bobbie, me and everyone at Seeds of Peace. Together we can make sure that Asel’s voice is never silenced.
John Wallach