LOOKING FORWARD from page 17 groups from the Balkans. Seeds has run more than 2,000 kids in a decade through the camp in Maine, which is the only the depar- ture point for year-round co-existence and conflict resolution programming done primarily through our center in Jerusalem. We also run an adult Peace Partners program, using a grant from the State Department. DJN: What are your plans for the future of the organization? ADM: My objective is to create a stream of programming from the age of 14, when these kids enter camp, to the age of 22 — through their uni- versity years. We have 100 Seeds graduates now at colleges and universities across the U.S. The only way to affect attitudes is through sustained follow-up over time, not just for a 3V2-week session in the woods of Maine. If Seeds is going to have a real impact, it has to be able to stand the harsh realities of life in what I call the neighborhood — in Israel, in the West Bank, in Gaza, in Cairo, in Amman. This is where the program has to really be tested. And circumstances at the moment are very challenging. But we continued to run hundreds of Israeli and Palestinian kids over the course of the past year through our center of co-existence in Jerusalem. DJN:Is Seeds of Peace accomplish- ing its goals? ADM: If you talk to the kids [who attended Seeds camp in its earliest years] now, at age 22 or 23, to see what they're doing with their lives, you could argue, 'Yes, Seeds works.' Can you argue it will over time? No, because they're simply too young. If one of these gets to be a prime minister or a president or a foreign minister or the editor of a top Palestinian or Israeli newspaper, if they become elites in their own soci- eties, and they grow from these expe- riences, then I would argue, 'Yes, it works.' But it works in another way. It gives young people an alternative to hatred and, in some cases, to vio- lence. I'm not saying Seeds is going to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict. It won't. But without creating these personal ties and relationships, and training leaders who believe that creating common ground is the only way this conflict is going to be resolved, we're never going to get out of it. DJN: How would you answer Seeds opponents who argue that the organi- zation promotes a left-wing agenda? ADM: I take this issue extremely seriously because it is not factually nor philosophically correct. We are in the center, which is where Arab and Israeli peace will have to be made. First, to attend Seeds camp, speak- ing English is critical, so you're draw- ing on kids who tend to be well edu- cated, kids who represent the center of their respective societies. Also, the fact that they come repre-. senting their governments makes Seeds a much different kind of program than many of the other ngo's [non- governmental organizations], some of which may well have left-of-center ori- entations, which we don't. We have kids from refugee camps and from settlements. We have kids representing a panoply of views on the Arab-Israeli issue. I don't want little peace robots who come preprogrammed with- a left-of- center view because peace between Palestinians and Israelis will not be made by [those on] the margins — it will be made and forged in the center of their respective societies. And these kids reflect genuine and authoritative representation of their societies. DJN: There are those in the Detroit Jewish community who say that the activities of former Seeds employee Adam Shapiro, who openly supports Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, shows that the organization has a pro-Palestinian point of view. How would you answer them? ADM: In two months as Seeds pres- ident, I have rarely encountered that kind of attitude in any of my public presentations. As far as I'm concerned, that matter is closed. Adam Shapiro is not an employ- ee of this organization. His views and opinions do not represent the views and opinions of this organization. I have no illusions that I'm going to convince everybody in Detroit, in Boston, in any community, that this is the way to go. There are a lot of people who simply don't believe; there are a lot of people who once believed but who no longer believe. The extremes of this conflict are probably unconvincible. What com- pels me is not the margins, it's the center. The center, by and large, is silent. But there, nobody wants to give up on the future. H If it's Ipassover supplies you need.. BARTON'S ALMOND KISSES 99 10 oz. reg. 999 Limit 4, expires 4/23/03 BARTON'S CANDY 9.9 Boxed candy. Any product of or higher. Cannot be combined with any other offer Limit 3, expires.4/23/03 COUPON COUPON JOYVA CANDY MANISCHEWITZ WINE Assorted flavors. reg. 399 49 ssorted flavors. 750 ml Limit 4 Limit 4, expires 4/23/03 COUPON BARON HERZOL WINE 99 750 ml Merlot Chardonnay Limit 4, expires 4/23/03 ONE-HOUR PHOTO Limit 3, expires 4/23/03 COUPON 0 OA 99 4" double prints, 24 exp. 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