Religious conference in Doha welcomes Jewish speakers amid boycotts
Jun 29, 2005,

Dubai - Top leaders from the world's three major religions are expected to attend the third Doha conference on religious dialogue which opens Wednesday in the Qatari capital Doha.

The objective of the two-day conference is to highlight the role of religions in establishing human civilization and common values, Qatari newspapers reported.

The event also plans to discuss religious freedom, human rights and development and the challenges facing the modern family, among other topics.

Qatar University is hosting the event in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Some 90 delegates from across the world, including Israel, are expected to attend, organizers said.

The conference, which was previously limited to Islam and Christianity has now been expanded to include Judaism.

Several noted Jewish scholars are expected to attend the conference for the first time, prompting two prominent Moslem clerics to boycott the meeting.

Organizers said Egypt's Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, one of the Sunni world's most respected clerics, and Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, an outspoken Egyptian Sunni cleric, were boycotting the forum.

Though Qatar has no diplomatic relations with Israel, it has angered other Arab states by maintaining low-level ties with the Jewish state.

The Jerusalem Post newspaper said Wednesday that top Israeli religious leaders have refused to attend the Qatar conference because they were excluded from panels and not listed on the programme.

"Due to pressure that was put on the Qataris from Islamic extremists against having any Jews, the [Qataris] communicated to the Foreign Ministry that, while the Israelis would be very welcome, they would not appear formally on the programme or on the panels," Rabbi David Rosen told the newspaper.

Rosen is the American Jewish Committee's Jerusalem-based international director of interreligious affairs.