By Barbara Surk

DOHA, QATAR – More than a dozen rabbis, including two from Israel, were in attendance this week as the conservative Muslim sheikhdom of Qatar opened one of the Persian Gulf’s first scholarly centres dedicated to interfaith dialogue.

The rare meeting of Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars in the heartland of conservative Islam is another sign of Qatar’s efforts to present a moderate image as it bids for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. It’s also part of a broader push by Arab governments for interfaith dialogue, even though most still do not recognize Israel.

The talks were not entirely smooth. Politics and disputes over the Palestinian issue inevitably intruded, said Rabbi David James Lazar, leader of a synagogue in Tel Aviv.

Yet, the benefits for him were huge, he said, especially the ability to make personal connections with Arabs and Muslims “who, otherwise, I would have no contact with.

“For some, it’s their first chance ever to hear, not only an Israeli but to hear a Jewish rabbi speak … so one of my responses is trying to tell them the story of the Jewish people, which often they have not heard. The Holocaust,” he said.

“I hear their story as well,” he said. “It’s an exchange of stories.”

Another attendee, Rabbi Herschel Gluck, chair of the Muslim Jewish Forum in Britain, commended Qatar for “being brave” by holding the conference.

Some Qataris criticized the gathering.

“This openness to other faiths creates confusion among our people and jeopardizes our identity,” said one preacher at the local Fanar Islamic centre, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

But other Qataris consider this and other changes made by Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor al Thani as progressive. They credit the foreign and prime minister for social and economic reforms since 1995.

Two months ago, the country allowed the opening of its first-ever Catholic church. It has had low-level ties with Israel through a trade office for 12 years but does not recognize Israel. Recently, Qatar invited Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to speak at a conference on democracy.

Ibrahim al-Nuaimi, director of the interfaith centre sponsored by the ruling family, said the goal is to “promote joint studies of academics, from three faiths, to foster understanding and peace.”

Jean-Louis Cardinal Tauran, who leads the Vatican council for interreligious dialogue and attended the conference, praised Qatar’s efforts to include Jews.

“As religious leaders, let us promote a sound pedagogy of peace, which is taught in the family, mosques, synagogues and churches,” Tauran said.

In March, the Saudi king made an impassioned plea for dialogue among Muslims, Christians and Jews – the first such proposal from a nation with no diplomatic ties to Israel and a ban on non-Muslim religious services and symbols.

Many believe a gap of understanding is growing between the Muslim Arab world and the West.

Muslims have been angered by cartoons published in European papers seen as insulting the Prophet Muhammad and by the Pope’s baptizing on Easter of a Muslim journalist who had converted to Catholicism.

Specifics of the Saudi king’s initiative – and who would participate – remain unclear, in particular what’s not known is whether Israeli religious leaders would be invited to a Saudi-brokered dialogue.

Lazar, the Tel Aviv rabbi, said he is no politician but will carry his warm impressions from the conference back to his students and synagogue – and he hopes Muslim clerics will, too.

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