Jewish and Muslim Interfaith Group to Resume Dialogue

Southland Muslim and Jewish leaders decided Monday to restart a troubled interfaith dialogue group after Mideast tensions moved the Islamic side to freeze the effort last month.

The group, launched in 1998 in what members hoped would become a national model for Muslim-Jewish relations, has lost members in the last several months as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict stoked emotions and suspicions on both sides. The freeze was called by Maher Hathout of the Muslim Public Affairs Council after the Israeli use of F-16 aircraft against Palestinians inflamed the Muslim community.

But Muslim and Jewish members vowed Monday not only to restart the talks, but also to speak more directly--even on sensitive topics of the Mideast.

“I think we’ll encourage one another to be much more candid about those things that please us and pain us,” said Rabbi Allen I. Freehling of University Synagogue, the group’s facilitator. “We’ve been dancing around the Mideast, rather than being forthright.”

In announcing the restart, Salam Al-Marayati, of the Muslim council, said, “We underscored the importance of how we all cherish the dialogue.”

The talks will not resume until September, however, because several members plan lengthy summer travel. In the interim, Rabbi Harvey J. Fields has been asked by the Jewish Community Relations Committee to propose a blueprint for improving the dialogue.

Among other things, the Jewish committee hopes to propose that the dialogue group broaden the diversity of participants and agree on concrete goals and discussion items. But both topics are touchy.

Among Muslims, initial participants in the dialogue included people from a diverse number of Islamic organizations and cultural backgrounds. But participation dwindled and often ended up with representatives primarily from the Muslim Public Affairs Council--Hathout, Al-Marayati and Aslam Abdullah--according to those on both sides.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations withdrew last year because of the group’s failure to condemn Ariel Sharon’s visit to the holy site known as Temple Mount to Jews and Haram al Sharif to Muslims. Najee Ali, an African American activist with Project Islamic HOPE, said his interest began to wane because of the group’s lack of grass-roots action.

And national Islamic leader Muzammil Siddiqi said his far-ranging duties as president of the Islamic Society of North America and head of the Islamic Society of Orange County prevented him from attending regularly, though he said that he fully supported the group.

The question of who sits at the table has remained a sensitive topic. But Al-Marayati said the dialogue group was open to all and some Islamic leaders expressed interest in joining. Imam Abdul Karim Hasan, a leader of African American Muslims in Los Angeles and head of Bilal Islamic Center, said he had not been involved because he was not invited, but would welcome the opportunity to join.

Hasan said he had long worked with Jewish groups on such issues as joint access to prison chaplaincies, and believed it more productive to focus less on foreign issues and more on domestic items of common interest.

The question of focus has proved to be another pitfall. Several Jewish leaders, including committee Chairman Ozzie Goren, said the group should stress education, youth programs and other nonpolitical items to build trust before dicier topics can be effectively broached.

“That’s where we have to stay until we build an element of trust so that we can quietly discuss an F-16 or, God forbid, another death with the passion to resolve this together,” Goren said.

David B. Gardner, a Jewish immigration attorney who dropped out several months ago, said he would prefer to seek opportunities for constructive interfaith activities: his own project to bring professional business training to Israelis and Palestinians, for instance, or the Family Circle, a group that brings together Israelis and Palestinians who have lost children in the latest conflict.

Many Muslims, however, believe the Mideast conflict needs to be squarely addressed. “I think everyone has come to the realization that these issues are inevitable,” Al-Marayati said.

The Muslim leader said, however, that all ideas on improving the dialogue were welcome and would be discussed when the two sides resume regular meetings after the summer.