Canon White Stresses Importance of USG Role in

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 TEL AVIV 001312

SIPDIS

STATE FOR ECA DINA POWELL, CMCROUCH
STATE INFO NEA/PPD AFERNANDEZ, RASMITH, DBENZE
STATE INFO R AND NEA/IPA
JERUSALEM PASS ICD CDANIELS, CAIRO FOR AMB RICCIARDONE

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL KIRF PHUM KPAO IS ISRAELI SOCIETY PEACE PROCESS ISRAELI PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS
SUBJECT: Canon White Stresses Importance of USG Role in
Encouraging Religious Leaders' Peace Efforts

REF: A) TEL AVIV 1115
B) 05 TEL AVIV 3338
C) 04 TEL AVIV 1777

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY


1. (U) Summary: The Ambassador met with Canon Andrew
White, former Special Representative of the Archbishop
of Canterbury to the Middle East, at the Embassy on
March 29. White is a founding member, with former
Archbishop Lord Carey of Clifton, of the "Foundation
for Reconciliation in the Middle East" (FRME),launched
in London in June 2005. The foundation works
intensively on reconciliation efforts in Iraq and
between Israelis and Palestinians. White is currently
dividing his time between Iraq and visits to Israeli
and Palestinian religious leaders. He stressed the key
role of sustained USG involvement in interfaith efforts
in Iraq and Israel/Palestine, advocated for a major
conference of Israeli and Palestinian religious leaders
to be held abroad (possibly Egypt),and solicited the
Ambassador's input on expanding contacts with USG
officials on interfaith efforts during White's frequent
Washington visits. End Summary.

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U.S. Lead Essential in Engaging Religious Leaders
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2. (U) Canon White, accompanied by three FRME staff
(Pastor Mahesh Chavda, FRME Trustee; Peter Maki,
White's Executive Assistant; and Phillip Rizk, FRME's
Gaza-based representative),noted that deepening the
level and intensity of contacts and understanding among
key Jewish and Muslim leaders from Israel, the West
Bank and Gaza is more important than ever. He reviewed
his interfaith peace efforts over the last four years
with Rabbi Michael Melchior (MK Labor-Meimad),Rabbi
David Rosen, American Jewish Committee International
Director of Interreligious Relations, and other rabbis
involved in the "Alexandria Process," as well as with
Islamic clerics in the region such as Sheikh Imad
Falouji of Gaza, Sheikhs Talal Sidr and Tamimi in the
West Bank, and Grand Imam Tantawi of Al-Azhar
University in Cairo (reported in refs B and C). The
encounters facilitated by Canon White and others from
2004-2005 led in May 2005 to the establishment in Gaza
and in Kfar Qassem, Israel of two new centers for inter-
religious understanding and to joint speaking
engagements by Jewish and Muslim religious leaders.
White reported that Palestinian Authority Chief
Negotiator Saeb Erekat has been and continues to be
very helpful in encouraging inter-religious contacts.
He also praised Rabbi Melchior's engagement,
characterizing it as "very significant to our work,"
and noted the importance of the meetings he held
together with Melchior and Erekat.


3. (SBU) Fresh from participating briefly in the
Seville Interfaith Conference for World Religious
Leaders (hosted by a French NGO) and from a series of
meetings with political and religious leaders in Gaza,
White stressed the need to increase engagement
activities between Israeli and Palestinian religious
leaders, despite the difficulties. The fact that 18
Gazans, including Sheikh Imad Falouji, attended the
Seville conference (with FRME's logistical assistance)
and met with Israeli Jewish leaders and other rabbis
was extremely significant, he said. He added that
because it has been difficult to facilitate travel of
Palestinian religious leaders from Gaza and the West
Bank into Israel, he is exploring the idea of holding a
gathering of these leaders in Cairo, where they had
previously met.


4. (SBU) Ambassador Jones noted that in a recent
meeting with Israeli Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger and
Director-General of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel Oded
Wiener, Rabbi Metzger suggested that President Bush
convene an international conference of world religious
leaders (ref A) in the United States. Canon White
responded enthusiastically to the possibility of such a
White House initiative, characterizing the prospect as
"vital" and "highly strategic." He stressed the
importance of having Iraqi religious leaders
participate in such an event.

5. (SBU) Speaking of the broader region, White noted
that he is a senior advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister
on interfaith issues. He said that although Jordan's
Prince Hassan is active in interfaith efforts, Hassan's
relations with King Abdullah are not close. Peace
initiatives that Hassan has undertaken on interfaith
dialogue are viewed negatively and are actually
perceived by many as being anti-Iraqi. Prince Ra'ad,
on the other hand, described by White as having the
"ear of King Abdullah," is undertaking projects deemed
more in line with the King's views. Nonetheless, White
stressed, in his view, the U.S., and not Jordan, would
be the proper host for a serious effort to bring
together religious figures from Iraq and to bring
together Jewish, Muslim and Christian leaders from the
Holy Land.

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Ambassador Suggests Call on ECA A/S Powell
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6. (U) White said that in addition to updating Embassy
and Consulate officers during his frequent trips to
this area, he maintains contacts with Washington-based
officials on a regular basis, particularly State
Department, United States Institute of Peace (USIP),
and House and Senate figures working on Middle East
issues. The Ambassador suggested that White also meet
with State Department Public Diplomacy officials,
particularly ECA A/S Dina Habib Powell, to explore the
PD aspects of his planned interfaith activities and to
explore with her and others in the R family the
possibility of USG support for a proposed conference of
religious leaders in the region and/or in the U.S.


7. (U) White expressed his strong appreciation for the
USG support he has enjoyed for FRME's work, including
that of Embassy Tel Aviv PD officers, noting that State
Department and USIP support had proven essential in his
foundation's work. The Quartet, he noted, is taken
much less seriously than is the U.S. by key Israeli and
Palestinian religious leaders he has worked with. The
U.S. role, he said, is critical in providing on-going
advice and counsel, and, on occasion, financial
support, to sustain the hope of winning religious
communities' support for reconciliation efforts.

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Results from R Grant on Interfaith Dialogue and
Activities
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8. (U) Embassy Tel Aviv PD awarded a USD 43,000 grant
in September 2004 to White's previous NGO -- the
International Centre for Reconciliation (ICR) in
Coventry, UK -- using funds R allocated to the Embassy
in FY04 for programs on inter-religious dialogue to
advance the peace process. MK Melchior's Jerusalem-
based NGO, the Mosaica Center for Inter-religious
Understanding, was a key implementing partner in that
grant. Mosaica produced separate Arabic and Hebrew
language brochures containing the positive and hopeful
pro-peace and pro-tolerance statements of religious
leaders from this area, documenting the religious
communities' joint projects for peace, and calling upon
others to join in the effort. With State Department
funds and funds from USIP, European and other
governments and from private sources, White's team has
been able to carry out programs in Israel/West Bank and
Gaza. These programs bring senior Israeli and
Palestinian Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious
leaders together for intra- and inter-communal work to
advance implementation of the peace and tolerance
supporting principles to which they agreed in the
"First Alexandria Declaration of Religious Leaders of
the Holy Land" in Egypt in January 2002. (See refs B
and C and previous.)

JONES