| Date Entered: |
2007-11-27 |
| Details: |
 "Peace takes a lot of time, a lot of care, and a lot of patience," said Keith Morrison, echoing the words of a young Palestinian boy he met back in 1993. The NBC news correspondent kicked off the Center of the Study of Democracy's 2007-08 Dialogue on Democracy and Islam lecture series at UC Irvine on November 15, telling the story of how he came to know the boy, along with five other Palestinians and Israelis - now all young men - and their decade-long journey following a summer camp in the eastern United States.
Part of the 100 inaugural members of Seeds of Peace's International Camp - a summer program run by the non-profit organization aimed at bringing together children from conflicting nations to promote peace - the boys, three from Israel, three from Palestine, first met in 1993. They spent the summer together learning about one another and the issues affecting both sides of the line that divided - and still divides - their countries.
They were roommates, teammates in sports, friends, said Morrison. "After the summer ended, the boys went back to their countries and learned just how hard it was to stay friends among others who disapproved," he said. "Over the first few years, through assassinations, suicide bombings, all of it - the groups stayed in touch, calling each other, some meeting at non-descript locations."
Over the course of the next decade, Morrison reported periodically on the whereabouts and interactions of the boys, noting that the continued conflict between the two countries was wearing on their relationships. "The Israeli boys all enlisted in the military at 18," said Morrison, creating a further divide between old friends. "At this point, communication between them dropped by the wayside."
When he conducted his final report on the groups in 2002, Morrison brought together the now young men, all in their twenties, for a final meeting in Jerusalem. The meeting was tense and very emotional, Morrison recounted, as the once friends now stood on very opposite sides shaped by their experiences of the last decade. One thing, however, had not changed, he noted. "The words uttered by the young Palestinian back in 1993 were the same words he used to describe the situation a decade later," Morrison said. "'Peace takes a lot of time, a lot of care, and a lot of patience.'"
Wrapping up his formal talk, Morrison fielded questions from the audience, commenting that footage of the damaged West Bank was pulled from his documentary by producers who were "afraid of offending constituencies." Morrison concluded with a challenge to the 15-24 year old generation to "get behind the stereotypes, behind the issues of religion, to see the real human side." "You can make a difference," he noted, "just by listening to one another."
The Dialogue on Democracy and Islam lecture series is sponsored by the UC Irvine Center for the Study of Democracy. In its second successful year, the series has brought to campus a number of notable speakers including Rajiv Chandrasekaran, assistant managing editor of The Washington Post, Abbas Milani, director of Iranian Studies, Stanford University.
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