Friends Of Peace

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Jewish and Arab teen members of Seeds of Peace rally to promote peaceful coexistence.

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
StaffWriter

G

athering 50 supporters for a teen Seeds of
Peace peace rally may appear significant,
but perhaps the most momentous show
of success came from the planning.
When Waleed Brinjikji, 17, and Lenny Siegel, 16,
both of West Bloomfield, conceived the idea for the
May 1 event, they already were following the path set
by their Seeds of Peace Michigan Friends Chapter. The
two Andover High School juniors — one Arab and one
Jew — were being friends.
"We were just watching TV together one weekend
and we flipped on the news and saw images of war,"
Brinjikji says. "And we started talking about how we
should hold a rally showing how Arabs and Jews who
are all Americans can work together."
Says Siegel: "We had seen other rallies, but they all
seemed to be one-sided, makinab the other side want
to argue and fight. We all have the same goal — to
compromise — and we thought the rally could show
how we could work together toward that goal."
Making the rally a reality also involved team-
work from all members of the group — seven
Arab and seven Jewish teens. For instance, when
they learned the proposed Friday afternoon time
interfered with the bat mitzvah celebration of a
member's sister, they changed the date of the rally.

with her daughter, Sydney, 16, who held up a sign
that read, "Peace Starts With a Disarmed Heart."
Other signs bore slogans that included "Children
Need Peace," "Peace is Possible, We Are Proof,"
"Salaam" (peace in Arabic) and "Shalom" (peace in
Hebrew).
Several at the rally also wore pins Kim Redigan
created and distributed, reading, "God Bless the
Human Family."
"This rally was the kids' idea," says Nabil Sater of
Bloomfield Hills, who was joined at the gathering
by fellow Michigan chapter Seeds of Peace teen dia-

Hope For Peace

The teens, who gathered in front of Crosswinds
Mall in West Bloomfield bearing signs with peace
slogans, were greeted by drivers who honked their
horns as a show of support.
"The honking showed the consensus of the people
is that they want peace," says peace activist Kim
Redigan of Dearborn Heights. She attended the rally

FRIENDS OF PEACE on page 26

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Deana ElMowfi, 16 of Troy,
Noha Elsharkawy, 18, of West
Bloomfield, Greg Goodman,
17, of Bloomfield Hills and
Ben Siegel, 17, of Bloomfield
Hills chant peace slogans and
hold pro peacesigns at Teen
Seeds of Peace rally.

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