Imams, rabbis end congress with call to respect religions

? Imams and rabbis concluded a sometimes-heated international congress Wednesday by calling on each other and the world to respect their religions.

In a final statement after the four-day meeting in the southern city of Seville, delegates said that “contrary to widespread misinterpretation, there is no inherent conflict between Islam and Judaism.”

The congress was designed to let imams and rabbis discuss how to end antagonism between their faithful and work toward peace.

The rare face-to-face forum – the second held by a Paris-based peace foundation called Hommes de Parole – was a good start, said Chaim Steinmetz, a rabbi from Canada.

“Most of the imams have never seen this many rabbis. Most of the rabbis have never seen this many imams,” Steinmetz said from Seville.

The meeting brought together more than 250 imams, rabbis and academics from 31 countries, including the United States. But it was largely overshadowed by tension over Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Imams from the Gaza Strip, such as Imad al-Falouji, insisted Tuesday that peace was impossible until Israel ended the occupation. He accused Israel of systematically “killing” his people.

But al-Falouji sounded more conciliatory as the congress ended. Some rabbis from Israel had promised him they would pressure the government to respect Muslim holy sites in Israel, he said.

Al-Falouji said other rabbis were less cooperative and more narrow-minded. “They must look at the problem in the Holy Land with two eyes, not one eye,” he said.

The forum’s final statement made an apparent reference to Muslim rage over the Prophet Muhammad cartoons published in European newspapers, calling on governments and international institutions to respect “symbols of all religions,” as well as holy sites, particularly in the Holy Land.

The delegates also appeared to address Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comment that Israel should be “wiped off the map.” They said “we condemn any incitement against a faith or people, let alone any call for their elimination, and we urge authorities to do likewise.”