Offering Hope for Israeli Jewish and Palestinian Arab Youth in Jerusalem
The conventional wisdom of late in Israel is that no one is talking to anyone from “the other side” (Palestinian Arabs vs Israeli Jews) since the Hamas-Israel War began on October 7th, 2023. However, through publications and interviews with leaders of an important interfaith youth movement for peace in Jerusalem in recent weeks, I have learned that this is not the case. On the contrary, interfaith peace education is doing rather well at Seeds for Peace Jerusalem, formerly known as Kids4Peace.
According to the co-education directors of Seeds of Peace Jerusalem—Ittay Flescher and Lana Ikelan, (along with Eva Armour, Executive Director Seeds of Peace, Qasim Aslam,
Global Youth Programs Lead ,Seeds of Peace and Suma Qawasmi, Community Manager Seeds of Peace Jerusalem), this new branding of Kids for Peace will be beneficial for the movement:
We hope these changes and opportunities will continue to empower all of our community to build empathy for one another and leadership towards a future of peace.
Kids4Peace Jerusalem has been around for a long time. It was born in 2001 during the difficult period of the Second Intifada (Palestinian uprising against the Occupation by Israel). I knew this program from its beginning. Initially, this new initiative was sponsored by the Anglican Church in Jerusalem. Dr. Henry Ralph Carse, a gifted theologian, teacher and pilgrim guide, was the Founding Director of Kids4Peace, with St. George’s College Jerusalem providing a safe gathering place and institutional support.
In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kids4Peace merged with Seeds of Peace, an international organization dedicated to the pursuit of peaceful change in communities divided by conflict, with over 8,000 alumni across the world. And now, in 2026, Kids4Peace has officially become Seeds of Peace Jerusalem.
According to Ittay Flescher, this new development is beneficial for the Palestinian and Israeli youth who will be part of this interfaith youth movement:
Seeds of Peace began during the period of the Oslo Accords. The founders thought that in addition to the top-down process that was happening, there also needs to be a bottom-up process. So, they established a summer camp in 1993 in Maine. Their first cohort consisted of 47 young people from Israel, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan and the United States. They were actually on the White House lawn for the signing of the Oslo Accord on September 13, 1993. There is a photo of them with their T-shirts with Rabin, Clinton and Arafat.
The idea was that this would be a movement that would complement the political process that was happening in Washington, with people being educated towards the values of empowering youth to take action, have a voice on issues of justice, equality, and peace. Seeds of Peace is now over 30 years old. We have branches all over the world– in India, in Pakistan, the U.K., the United States, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and Egypt. It is a strong peace organization and I am happy to be part of it.
What does Seeds of Peace Jerusalem do? And how do they do it?
First of all, it is a joint Israeli-Palestinian organization, led by a Jewish Israeli and a Palestinian Arab—Ittay Flescher and Lana Ikelan, who as co-directors of education work as a team, along with a group of Israeli and Palestinian counselors whom they supervise. Their counsellors facilitate discussions and informal activities for Palestinian and Jewish youth from all over Jerusalem, from 7th to 10th grade, and they have programs for graduates in 11th and 12th grade, as well as for alumni. Most of these young people have had no contact with “the other” until they come to Seeds of Peace Jerusalem. They go to separate schools, read different newspapers, watch different television channels, inhabit different neighborhoods (which are usually not mixed ones). They also speak different languages and learn different educational curriculum. This presents these educators with significant challenges. Nevertheless, they believe that there is a real need to bring these young people together in Jerusalem to encounter each other, even during this difficult period of the last two plus years.
I was pleasantly surprised that they were able to start up their activities six months after the war began in October 2023 and to keep them going throughout 2024 and 2025. In fact, this was a rather amazing discovery for me, since I had assumed that all dialogue had stopped during the war. And their numbers are stable for 2026 as well.
How were they able to keep going during the war? Did their program or ideology change?
According to Flescher:
We believe even more so in empowering youth, in comforting them and supporting them in times when so many of our kids have experienced loss, pain and grief and have seen horrific things on social media. So, in in terms of our educational ideology, I think that it did not change post-October 7th. What we are doing really is helping our kids go through a process of humanization– it’s a process of showing the kids that there are people of other religions than you who live here, that they’re not the same as you– in fact they are very different–but they are human beings who are deeply connected to this city and they have stories that you can hear and appreciate. By your understanding of all those stories, together you can build a better Jerusalem.
In addition to learning about the transition of Kids4Peace into Seeds of Peace Jerusalem, I learned from my discussion with Flescher that the peace movement is not dead. Far from it. In fact, ALLMEP, the Alliance for Middle East Peace has a Jerusalem group with 70 member organizations, just from the Jerusalem area, who meet periodically, exchange ideas and seek ways to cooperate and development partnerships for greater impact. However, since they don’t kill anyone and they avoid scandals, they don’t get much media coverage. In contrast, I (via this blog) want the world to know that they exist and are persevering for peace, despite all the obstacles and challenges, of which there are many. I applaud their work and wish them well, and hope that they will continue to thrive and develop.
(This is the second in a serious about peacebuilders and peacebuilding organizations in Jerusalem.)
