OTISFIELD – Although Arab and Israeli officials continued to spar Wednesday on the latest proposal to bring peace to the Middle East, on the other side of the world, a young Egyptian had a different message.

“I dream of a day when Arab and Israeli children hold hands,” said Randa Farid. “Let’s do what the great people dream of but cannot achieve. Let’s unite in peace.”

Farid’s words were met with applause by Israelis and Palestinians, as well as the Jordanian, Egyptian, Moroccan, Yemeni, Indian, Pakistani, Afghan and American youths who participated in the flag-raising ceremony at the Seeds of Peace Camp in Otisfield on Wednesday.

Seeds of Peace President Aaron David Miller addressed the 175 campers – or “seeds,” as they call themselves – before the flag raising.

“What is happening this morning is not happening anywhere else in the world,” he said. Although the campers had grown up “against a background of a world that is increasingly violent, where hopelessness and despair prevail,” he said, “here we do have hope and we are not despairing.”

Before raising their flags, returning campers from each country spoke about how Seeds of Peace had affected their lives. The stories and messages were alike, regardless of the nationality of the speaker.

“There were times when I doubted this dream was true,” one returning camper said of returning to his homeland. He has chosen to believe that “if you never stop holding onto this dream, it will come true.”

A girl from Pakistan said that last year at camp, “I made a friend who is an enemy of mine. I’m so happy that she made me the person that I am.”

“We’ve arrived with open minds, open hearts and open arms,” said a boy from Yemen. “We’ll return with a message.”

Each delegation raised their country’s flag in turn. Many teared up as they lifted up their young voices to sing their national anthems. At the end they raised the Seeds of Peace flag, and joined in the camp song. Arm in arm, they sang, “people of peace, rejoice, rejoice, for we have united into one voice.”

Miller told the group: “When you walk through that gate, there will be only one flag flying. For the next 21 days, we have one song, one flag and one shirt. We’re a community.”

For the next three weeks, the children from warring countries will sleep in the camp and eat at the same tables. They will go swimming and boating, create art and play baseball – many for the first time.

For 90 minutes of each day, the campers will participate in “coexistence sessions.” During these sessions, 10 campers from different sides of a conflict meet with a facilitator to discuss their feelings. At the camp they have a rare chance to talk face to face with a person who they may otherwise have called an enemy.

During the last week of camp, campers compete against each other in groups in “color wars.”

The ties that campers have formed are made even tighter as they try rock climbing, the trust wall and the ropes course. “Everything we do here is designed to promote trust,” said communications director Rebecca Hankin.

During color wars, she said, “you’re so involved in the blue or green group that you forget you’re Israeli or Palestinian.”

At least one Palestinian boy believes in and wants peace. He expressed what the campers and staff fervently believe: “Seeds of Peace is the way life should be.”