I am a Seed of Peace: Music and Israeli-Arab Peacemaking

Abstract

Seeds of Peace International Camp for Coexistence in Otisfield, Maine is a summer camp and intensive dialogue program for teens from the Middle East. Campers come in national delegations of “Arabs” or “Israelis” for whom acknowledgment of the other side's humanity is equivalent to self-nullification and moral jeopardy. When they first arrive, scarred by conflict, they see their mission not as peacemaking but vociferous defense of their countries' policies and national histories. After three weeks, these identities have not been shed, but campers have acquired an additional shared identity as “Seeds” – members of a new community of enemies who choose to become friends, acknowledge their enemies' reality and pain, and engage in earnest dialogue about how to heal their region's wounds.Based on research over four summers, first as a camper and then as a music counselor, it is clear that music is integral to the profound personal and communal process of creating the intercultural identity of the “Seed.” I will discuss the role of the song “I am a Seed of Peace,” taught to all campers, in both the development and performance of the new, shared identity of the “Seed.” Through multiple performances of the song, campers create a space in which dialogue is not a betrayal of oneself or one's history but an embrace of one's fellow Seed and the collective hope for a peaceful and productive common future.