OTISFIELD, Maine (AP)  The Seeds of Peace camp that brings together teens from the Middle East is underway in Maine.

Campers from seven different countries are participating in the first session that officially started with a flag-raising ceremony on Sunday. American campers will attend the second session.

Tim Wilson, senior adviser at the Otisfield camp, said security was tighter at the flag-raising ceremony than in past years. He tells the Sun Journal that that the state police presence and heightened vigilance was “just a product of the times.”

The camp was founded by the late foreign correspondent John Wallach, who brought a group of Israeli and Arab teens to a Maine lake in 1993 with a goal of finding common ground.
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Information from: Sun-Journal, http://www.sunjournal.com