Religious leaders welcome interfaith moot in Madrid

Madrid: Saudi King Abdullah will open an international conference in Madrid on Wednesday aimed at allowing representatives of the world's great religions "to get to know each other".

The conference is the brainchild of the king, who has cast it as a way to ease tensions between Islam, Judaism and Christianity. It is part of an effort to reposition oil-rich Saudi Arabia as a force for moderation in the region since it hosts Islam's two holiest shrines in Mecca and Medina.

Around 200 participants are expected, including representatives of the world's major religions: Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism.

At a gathering of Muslim scholars, clerics and other figures in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia in June, Abdullah said that Muslims must turn away from the dangers of extremism and present Islam's "good message" to the world.

His efforts have generally been welcomed in Israel and by the Jewish community, as well as in the Arab world.

"The conference provides a rare opportunity for strengthening mutual respect between the followers of the three main religions," Monsignor Nabil Haddad, head of the Melkite Catholic community in Jordan and a participant at the conference, said.

One of the conference's biggest names is David Rosen, a prominent Israeli rabbi. The inclusion of an Israeli in a Saudi-sponsored gathering is big news, but Rosen is not listed as being from the Jewish state in the conference literature. He has dual citizenship, and is described as an American.

"Practically speaking, he is being invited as a foreigner and not as an Israeli," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said, dismissing the conference.

"If they really wanted to make this significant, they should have invited real Israeli rabbis."