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Parts of this article appeared in The Forward (New York)

Think of all of your images of the middle east conflict: anguished faces, tear-filled victims, contorted bodies and inflamed rhetoric. You have seen them a million times on TV--youngsters throwing rocks, soldiers firing weapons, politicians on all sides rationalizing violence as virtue.

As a journalist, at two networks and as an independent film maker, I have seen them all too, even documented some myself. As the producer of a human rights TV series, I have watched enough footage of dead bodies and tortured souls to last a lifetime. I've even learned that some of my attempts to arouse a caring and empathetic response may have had the opposite effect by numbing the audience with pictures of atrocities that are too painful for some to watch. Or so they say.

All too often, television reportage, stripped of context and explanation, ends up reinforcing preconceived notions and prejudices with easy soundbites and sensationalized coverage. When we cheer for "our side," we often demonize the 'other,' reducing our views to black and white categories like "The Arabs" or "The Jews." One dimensional reporting actually hardens attitudes and reinforces the status quo. The images of people working together, across racial, ethnic, religious and national lines are rare, and conspicuous by their absence.

I have just written a book about this phenomenon, The More You Watch the Less You Know, dissecting a media-fostered occupational disease called cynicism which invariably frames problems as unsolvable, "tragic," or beyond redemption. Unfortunately, much of our media thrives on hitting every negative note, offering few ideas on workable ways to alter the status quo. We know how to cover war but pay short shrift to the process of peace-making, or the techniques of conflict resolution. Bang-bang war footage--focusing on what we in the business call 'boys with toys"-- gets the attention; in contrast, peace initiatives are treated as soft (in the head) and, consequentally less important. Tough guys ballooned up with bluster are pictured as heroes; peaceniks as sell-outs or out of touch. Is it any wonder that the public at large has so little sense about about workable alternatives to the continuing confrontation?

Perhaps that's why it was so refreshing for me to have met a colleague who had "been there and done that," and came out the other end as a reporter determined to do something concrete about peacemaking instead of just cataloging the unending cycles of pain. His name: John Wallach, a respected Middle East watcher and, for a long time, a prominent inside the beltway TV pundit and newsman. He helped break Iran-contra and a half a dozen other "big" stories. Over the years, John realized he didn't like the news and decided to make some of his own by launching a unique conflict resolution/youth training program that brings teenagers from war zones to a special summer camp in Maine. Instead of the Pulitzer prize, he just may be in line for a Nobel prize as one citizen who cared enough to make a difference. And you've heard it here first.

John is the passion behind "Seeds of Peace," an international leadership grooming program that does what many said could not be done: encourage enemies to become friends, and turn hatreds into healing. He has developed a methodology for promoting tolerance and co-existence along principles of social justice. John's program first broke into public view when President Clinton recognized its "graduates" on the White House lawn just after the signing of the first pact between Israel and the Palestinians. Leaders who could rarely agree on a anything agreed that the Seeds program was worth encouraging. The late Yitzak Rabin was a booster along with men with names like Arafat, Peres, Hussein, Mubarek, and yes, even Netanyahu.

John was working for Elie Wiesel's foundation when he told me about Seeds. I immediately thought it would make a great film. And he agreed. Within months, with the slenderest of resources, I found myself in my fifties going back to camp, to find out if this program was all that it was cracked up to be. He agreed to provide our team with total access, cautioning that of course, in the end, it would be the kids who would have to decide if they would mind the intrusive presence of cameras. We decided to involve them in the process--some kept video diaries--and we were off and running.

The three of us from our film company, Globalvision, were a strange crew: myself, a Jewish New Yorker with a critical take on Israeli policy, Sam Shinn, a Korean -American cameraman without much experience with people from that region, and Aliet Rogaar, our sound person, a Dutch woman, with little exposure to an American youth camp. It became clear early on that John was as welcoming as he was nervous about our presence. His peace camp functions on the edge of real conflict where internal eruptions are always possible. He knew, as we would soon find out, that the kids come to camp expecting to like each other and quickly find that they don't. In short, he was taking a risk by being so open, but then John is not risk averse. We all wondered: what if the wars and terrors these kids were escaping traveled with them?

Our hour long film, "Sowing Seeds, Reaping Peace," documents what really happened. Happily, Barbra Streisand liked it enough to introduce it, and it aired recently in prime-time on WNET in New York. (The film is also available for $50 on video from Globalvision, 1600 Broadway, New York City l0019.)

It offers a view that, unfortunately, we don't see often enough: scenes of people of different backgrounds and outlooks actually struggling with each other and themselves to understand conflicting points of view, to see each other as human, as people who have interest in resolving issues rather than prolonging them.

The teenagers who attended the camp were a diverse lot. Palestinians consumed by rage and Israelis paralyzed by fears. There was the grandson of a religious Jewish family who admitted that he was taught to hate Arabs, and spoke of watching his Israeli mother cry as she put on a gas mask to defend against Saddam Hussein's SCUD missiles during the Gulf War. There were Bosnians who hadn't been home in years and lived in shock, traumatized about the devastation of their society, and Serbs who complained that they were being blamed for everything. Both sides felt guilty for having the opportunity to be there, for having fun. These were all kids who were handling emotions and problems that most adults can barely cope with.

By the end of the two week session alongside a lovely lake in rural Maine, after nightly facilitated discussion, these teenagers managed to find ways to compromise on their understandings of charged issues like the Holocaust and the future of Jerusalem. They came to see that no side had a monopoly on truth. In fact, they were able agree on a formula that seems to have eluded their parents, to share Jerusalem as the twin capitol of two states, Israel and Palestine. They learned how to listen and how to learn from each other, to overcome distrust and prejudice. They discovered that they could put aside their "facts" and arguments to build lasting personal relationships. And in at least one case, one tool that brought them together was a drama which dealt with racism in Brooklyn -- a parallel all sides could relate to.

As a film maker, I hesitate to go into more detail or describe the vignettes because that's what the film is there to do--visually and emotionally. Obviously, I don't have the distance to be critical except about the tiny budget we had to work with and the limitations that imposed. Nevertheless, we managed to do a shoot in the Middle East and include moments and commentary by President Clinton, and other well known leaders.

Seeds of Peace is now an international camp with its own facility, and a bold and ambitious agenda. Like many good works, it is underfunded because money for war-making is plentiful while peace-making is still a beggar's art. It is still refining its approach. Not everything that was tried worked. Not all the kids had the same experience. Some are there for the sun, for the sports, and the fun. But others take it seriously as work, even though there was occasionally more preaching than teaching for my taste. The Israelis and Palestinians seemed to have a more meaningful encounter than the Bosnians and Serbs whose emotions were rawer and positions less clear. At the same time, the experience for many was transformative. It is important to recognize that the kids have remained friends, and some publish a newpaper called the Olive Branch.

How do we get more visibility for projects that work? How can we get the media to start telling more inspirational stories like these? How do we get the "leaders" who seem to have abandoned the peace process to learn from their own children?

In some ways I see our film as a seed, too--and can only hope that it, too, will reap heightened awareness and, yes, more hope in a region that seems, from afar, to be losing it.

(Videos available for $50 plus $3.95 S&H from Globalvision, 1600 Broadway NY NY 10019)

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