[“Seeds for Peace”, mentioned below, is directed by Mrs. Aaron Miller, whose husband, Aaron Miller, is one of the architects of the Oslo process… ]

Once again the camp, Seeds of Peace hits the news and who can argue with “peace?” Unfortunately the concept, more particularly the sponsoring organization, Seeds of Peace, has developed a glaring glitch. A Seeds of Peace graduate from Dearborn, Michigan, Huwaida Arraf was recently released from an Israeli jail. Ms. Arraf had bravely run into the Church of the Nazareth in order to aid the Palestinian Arab terrorists that escaped there to avoid Israeli arrest. She now lectures around the country on her harrowing experiences under Israeli arrest and the awful plight of her fellow Arabs.

There is also a cross-cultural part of the story that gives it some human interest. It turns out this Arab girl from Dearborn Michigan is marrying a Jewish boy from Brooklyn, New York named Adam Shapiro. They met in Jerusalem where they were both working for Seeds of Peace! Mr. Shapiro had been working for the camp for about four years and was the director of the project while she was a program coordinator.

Mr. Shapiro is now a hero in his own right among the Palestinian Arabs. He has an illustrious history. He took it upon himself to traverse an Israeli/Arab battlefield hidden in a Red Crescent Ambulance furnished to him by the PLO, in order that he might breakfast and show solidarity with his beleaguered hero, Yasser Arafat, and a coterie of his terrorist lieutenants in Arafat’s Israeli surrounded headquarters in Ramallah.

Other credits for Mr. Shapiro include that he is also the co-founder with Ms. Arraf of a PLO front organization called the International Solidarity Movement. The credentials of this organization were accepted by Yasser Arafat, himself, at a group meeting December 18, 2001. The movement has a web site in which they proclaim the following goals:

  • Raise awareness of the Palestinian struggle for freedom and an end to Israeli occupation.
  • Recognize the Palestinian right to resist Israeli violence and occupation via armed struggle.
  • Right of Return of Palestinian Refugees and the Palestinian capitol to be in Jerusalem.
  • Immediate compliance by Israel with international law, (as interpreted by the Arab” judiciary.”)
  • Expose Israel’s lack of respect for Palestinian human rights and human life.

All these goals right out of Yasser Arafat’s manifesto!

Unfortunately, this incident is not our first revelation relative to Seeds of Peace. Listed among the international camp sponsors are Saeb Erekat, long time senior advisor and Arab propagandist Terry Ahwal, also from Dearborn, Michigan. Included on the honorary committee sponsoring the camp are Congressmen David Bonior, John Conyers and John Dingell – all well recognized as members of the Arab Hall of Fame for voting most consistently against all measures favoring the State of Israel.

Nationwide fund raising events sponsored by the camp have had as their primary speakers former Ambassador to Egypt, Edward S. Walker Jr. who is now president of the Middle East Institute. Walker’s numerous writings and opinions can easily be found on the Internet. Currently they revolve around how Saudi Arabia is maligned by the American press and the Saudi government is truly a great friend of the United States. His position is also that if the United States would stop and had stopped their favoritism toward Israel, the World Trade Center disaster would likely never have occurred and the Arabs would now happily join the newest coalition against Saddam Hussein! Other speakers have included Martin Indyk past U.S. ambassador to Israel and the Middle East who was famous for consistently taking the Arab side in any dispute with Israel. Other speakers have been Abed Rabbo, Yasser Arafat’s Minister for Information and Culture and Yossi Beilin, known as Peres’ poodle and now a marginal member of his own Labor party and one of the authors of the now irrelevant and justly maligned Oslo Peace Accords.

With this formidable bunch of supporters, one can’t help but wonder what are Jews doing involved as monetary contributors and even worse, sending their kids to the camp? Are the kids to come out with the ideology of director Adam Shapiro and his program coordinator Arab bride? Do parents think the above cast of characters really has the well being of the State of Israel in mind? Do these Seeds of Peace supporters think of Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people and as a sanctuary for Jews fleeing from persecution once again rampant all over the world? What do they teach the kids in that camp or is it all just canoeing and camp songs? Perhaps those donating to the camp and the parents of the children involved should answer those questions themselves?

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