International leaders need to focus on the next generation of young people that will one day be guiding the world, said Dr. Aaron Miller, president of the Seeds of Peace organization, in a speech yesterday in the Kay Spiritual Life Center.
Miller spoke about the importance of negotiation in international conflict and the purpose of the Seeds of Peace group to over 70 students and staff members.
The Seeds of Peace organization was founded 12 years ago. According to their Web site, www.seedsofpeace.org, the group brings young leaders from regions of conflict to a camp in Maine to help them develop the leadership skills they need to negotiate and promote a more peaceful coexistence.
"Negotiation is no different than good friendships, marriages, or business propositions," said Miller, who taught at AU in the '70s. "The important thing to remember is that negotiation must be based on balance of interest."
According to Miller, an individual must have certain qualities to be a successful negotiator. "You have to be empathetic, and I don't mean sympathetic," he said. "You have to really be willing to be able to put yourself in another person's shoes."
Miller also spoke about the need to be tough. "Unless you are tough, you need to prepare to withstand the political implications of negotiating," he said.
Miller, who resigned from the State Department in January 2003, said that his decision to leave was not easy. "
I came to the conclusion analytically that the Arab-Israeli conflict is a generational conflict and will not be resolved immediately," Miller said.
"If I am correct, someone needs to start thinking seriously about what is going to happen to this next generation," Miller said. "We are ignoring the young Arabs and Israelis who are giving in to a life of despair...We are also ignoring the fact that we are not going to inherit the Holy Land."
According to Miller, even if he is incorrect on this issue, international leaders need to begin to seriously look at the next generation.
Seeds of Peace began with 46 Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian teenagers in 1993, according to the web site. The group now includes teens from South Asia, Cyprus and the Balkans. Over 2,500 teenagers from 25 nations have participated in the program.
The young leaders attend an international camp in Maine for three and a half weeks. "During the first night, many of the participants can't sleep, not because they're jet lagged or homesick but because they are scared that they are sleeping next to the enemy," Miller said. The program puts Palestinian and Israeli teens as roommates.
At the camp in Maine, participants attend conferences and workshops that help them develop skills and values such as empathy, respect, and confidence, in addition to negotiation and communication skills.
Once attendees leave the camp, they are encouraged to stay in contact with each other through e-mail.
Miller concluded his speech with the words of a seventeen-year-old Jordanian woman who attended Seeds of Peace: "In order to make peace with the enemy, you have to go to war with yourself," Miller said.
After Miller's speech, Micah Winograd, Leonard Hall president, presented Miller with the Leonard Hall Olive Branch Award for officiating peace worldwide.
The Leonard Hall RHA will be tabling today and Friday in Mary Graydon Center to raise money to send a child to the Seeds of Peace program in Maine, Winograd said.
"I was absolutely amazed at how the program went," Winograd said. "Leonard Hall RHA spent five weeks focusing on the event...We really fulfilled our year-long purpose of giving back."
In addition to the Leonard Hall RHA, Miller's speech was co-sponsored by the School of International Service, Hillel, the Muslim Student Association, the Jewish Student Association, the Korean Student Association, AU Students for Israel, AU Students for Palestine and the College Democrats.
"I am proud of how we were able to take organizations that have never worked with each other before and they cooperated with each other," Winograd said. "They united around our goal of bringing peace forward."
The Office of Campus Life provided the Leonard RHA with a grant in order to hold the event. Gail Hanson, Vice President of Campus Life, Julie Weber, Executive Director of Housing and Dining, Faith Leonard, Dean of Students, and Rick Treter, Associate Director of Housing and Dining programs attended the program.
