Doha: Influential Muslim cleric Yousuf Al Qaradawi boycotted an inter-faith dialogue conference that opened in Doha on Tuesday, refusing to sit in the meeting also attended by Jewish representatives, a local daily reported.
“I decided not to participate so I wouldn’t sit at the same platform alongside Jews who still violate Palestine and destroy mosques and as long as the Palestinian issue has not been resolved,” Al Qaradawi told the Al Arab daily of Qatar.
“There is no more injustice than what the Jews have caused to our people in Palestine.”
The International Union of Muslim Scholars which he heads is, however, represented at the conference which brings together 500 personalities from 75 countries representing the three monotheistic religions.
Egypt-born Al Qaradawi is a controversial religious figure in the West and has millions of supporters — mainly from the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.
He hosts a popular show on Al Jazeera satellite television and has backed the Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Syria.
