Canon White and Former Archbishop of

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 001777

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/IPA, NEA/RA, NEA/PPD MQUINN, DBENZE
STATE INFO FOR IIP, ECA
JERUSALEM PASS ICD DANIELS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KMPI PHUM KPAO IS GOI EXTERNAL ISRAELI SOCIETY ISRAELI PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS
SUBJECT: Canon White and Former Archbishop of
Canterbury Share Views with Ambassador Kurtzer on Role
of Alexandria Process in Reducing Violence

REF: A) Jerusalem 124

B) 03 Tel Aviv 6792
C) 03 Tel Aviv 5696


1. Summary: Lord Carey of Clifton (Former Archbishop
of Canterbury) and Canon Andrew White met with
Ambassador March 19 to seek his views on ways they
could move forward the Alexandria Process Israeli-
Palestinian religious dialogue in a manner that would
best support the political track of the peace process.
Lord Carey noted that his main goal in staying engaged
in the religious dialogue after leaving his post as
Archbishop of Canterbury was to keep working to get
religious leaders here to take a stand against the
suicide bombings and violence and for peace.
Ambassador Kurtzer encouraged Lord Carey and Canon
White and all who accompanied him to keep up that
effort, which he said was of vital importance to the
peace process. End summary.


2. Lord Carey of Clifton (former Archbishop of
Canterbury),accompanied by Lady Carey, Canon Andrew
White, and a delegation of mostly American evangelical
Christian leaders, called on Ambassador Kurtzer March
19, in a meeting organized by Canon Andrew White and
his International Centre for Reconciliation (ICR) at
Coventry Cathedral. Poloff and PDoff also participated
in the meeting. Lord and Lady Carey and their group
were on a five-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian
Authority March 17-21 at the ICR's initiative for
meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials as well
as western diplomats. The goal of the visit, and of
their call on Ambassador Kurtzer, was to learn how
those involved promoting, executing, or funding high-
level interfaith dialogue efforts in the Israeli-
Palestinian context could best support the goals of
reducing incitement and violence and advancing the
peace process.


3. Lord Carey informed the Ambassador that he has
remained actively engaged in Alexandria Declaration
implementation ("the Alexandria Process") even after
leaving his post as Archbishop of Canterbury. Since
the "First Alexandria Declaration of the Religious
Leaders of the Holy Land" was signed in Egypt by top
Jewish, Muslim and Christian religious leaders back in
January 2002, the primary purpose of the follow-on
"Alexandria Process" has been to get the religious
leader signatories to live up to their commitments,
especially to get them to "speak out against suicide
bombings and violence, and to take an active stand for
peace," in Lord Carey's words.


4. The Ambassador encouraged Canon White and Lord
Carey and their delegation to keep working toward that
important goal, even if it means adding new recruits
one by one to the ranks of those who were "on message."
Efforts such as those being undertaken through the
Alexandria Process to get religious leaders to condemn
and rein in the violence are one of the most important
of all the auxiliary efforts being carried out by non-
government actors in support of the peace process, the
Ambassador noted. He added that the success of such
efforts is made even more crucial by the fact that
there is an increasing danger that the
Israeli/Palestinian conflict could be moving from being
a primarily territorial and political conflict, as it
has traditionally been, to a religious and existential
conflict - which would be that much harder for
diplomats and statesmen to resolve.


5. Canon White briefly summarized the talks held in
Cairo in January 2004, in which Rabbi Melchior and a
second Israeli Jewish leader also participated. He
asked for the Ambassador's advice on what he and others
involved in promoting religious dialogue in the
Alexandria Process should focus on next, to best
support the USG's efforts to promote the Roadmap and
the political track of the peace process. Ambassador
Kurtzer said the most important role they could play
would be to continue to expand the circle of religious
leaders in the region -- not only senior figures but
also those at the grassroots level -- who sign up to
the Alexandria Declaration and support its principles
of rejecting incitement and violence. (Text of
Declaration in Ref C and also on line at
http://www.wcrp.org/RforP/Press%20Releases/Al exandriaDe
claration.html.)

6. Note: Ref B (dated December 1, 2003) was a joint
Consulate General Jerusalem /Embassy Tel Aviv
recommendation for NEA Multilateral funding for
projects that would expand Arab and Israeli
interaction. At the top of our joint list was an ICR
grant proposal to advance implementation of the
Alexandria Declaration. End note.

KURTZER