Dear list,
Dominik Ringler, one of the Berlin Team in Sevilla, collected the press
releases below...there is loads more and I will try to place it
somewhere in my www today so that it can all be seen..enjoy
greetings from Berlin
mmp
PRESS-OBSERVATIONS ON THE SECOND WORLD CONGRESS OF IMAMS AND RABBIS FOR
PEACE, SEVILLE 2006 (SHORT)
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?(?) Faced with difficult questions from journalists, the rabbis and imams
often would respond with bromides about believing in the same god and how
peace begins with dialogue.
To break down barriers, the organizers brought in a Philadelphia
communications specialist. Wearing a cowboy hat and barking orders into his
microphone, he encouraged the religious leaders to write down their ?issues?
on pieces of paper, then line up to announce them to the audience.
These ?open sessions? became the focus of the conference. Rabbis and imams
lined up to announce issues ranging from anti-Semitism in Iran to
Islamophobia, from gender equality to Holocaust denial. The list was
endless. (?)?
BEHIND THE HEADLINES Meeting in Spain, imams and rabbis pledge to defuse
religious tensions By Danny Wood from http://www.jta.org/ March 21, 2006
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?(?) Most of the third day of the four-day meeting in Seville was dedicated
to small workshops on issues like helping Jews and Muslims understand each
other better. But in a prior, plenary session Muslim delegates said peace
was impossible unless Israel ends its occupation of Palestinian lands.
"Unless we get to the core of the issue, we are pussyfooting around," said
Nazlin Umar Rajput, chairwoman of the National Muslim Council of Kenya. "It
is a fight over ownership of land." (?)?
?(?) Organizers abruptly changed the schedule of the meeting Monday when a
session that was to deal with family issues also turned political and
heated, and they again rushed to calm tempers at Tuesday's plenary. (?)?
? (?)The workshop themes were decided Monday in a brainstorming session in
which delegates spontaneously jotted down issues they thought critical to
ending antagonism between Muslims and Jews, and posted them on a bulletin
board. Attendance was open to anyone. (?)?
Mideast politics intrude on congress of imams and rabbis in Spain By
Associated Press March 22, 2006 Middle East politics intruded loudly and
repeatedly Tuesday at an international congress in southern Spain aimed at
getting imams and rabbis to talk about peace.
(http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Diplomacy/8080.htm)
***************************************************************************
?(?) In an offbeat approach to problem-solving, imams in flowing robes and
rabbis in black suits squatted on the floor, grabbed magic markers and
jotted down issues they see as critical for bringing about peace between
their faithful. The brainstorming session led by an American communications
consultant came at a four-day international congress of Muslim and Jewish
leaders that opened Monday in this southern city known for religious harmony
when the Moors ruled Spain. The idea was for the 250 delegates from more
than 30 countries to identify key themes of discord spontaneously. They
wrote down about 50 of them, including Palestinian suicide bombings, Israeli
settlements on Palestinian land, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. They then
posted the notes in English, Arabic, Hebrew, French and Spanish on a
bulletin board and pledged to attend workshops on those themes. The results
of the discussions will be published after the Second World Congress of
Imams and Rabbis for Peace ends Wednesday. Earlier in the day, tensions over
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict flared at the meeting. (?)?
?(?) Later the religious leaders tried out a negotiating approach that is
the brainchild of Harrison Owen, a US-born Anglican priest who used to work
in the Peace Corps and has spent the last 20 years applying the technique to
solving political and business problems around the world. "It works because
self-organising systems work," said Owen, who is a spry 70. The setting
looked like this: delegates sat in concentric circles. At Owen's signal,
first shyly but then in droves, they moved to the center of the room,
squatted on small orange cushions and wrote down issues they want to debate.
Eliezer Weisz, a rabbi in Israel, said he had never seen such a thing but
that maybe writing down problem areas as opposed to saying them aloud in a
formal setting would help people to communicate more from the heart.
"Perhaps it is a way to get people to interact," he said.
When it was all over, the bulletin board was plastered with dozens of themes
for debate such as how to guarantee respect for holy sites, how to instil
tolerance among young people, and whether tolerance should extend to the
intolerant. The forum, organized by a Paris-based peace foundation Hommes de
Parole, was first held last year in Brussels, Belgium. Organizers abruptly
changed the schedule and held the brainstorming session earlier than usual
because a morning meeting that was supposed to focus on family issues
strayed from that agenda and quickly became heated. Several imams said it
was pointless to try to talk about peace without addressing political issues
such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "This morning things got a little
exciting and that is good," Owen said, insisting that situations of
confusion, conflict and even chaos provide an energy that fuels
resolution.---AP?
Imams, rabbis brainstorm over 'peace'
http://www.kuwaittimes.net/regional.asp?dismode=article&artid=1223433584
***************************************************************************
?(?) After abruptly changing Monday's schedule when a session dealing with
family issues turned heated, organizers again rushed to calm tempers
Tuesday.(?)?
Imams, Rabbis clash over Israel
(http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3230790,00.html) Conference
designed to bring Jewish, Muslim leaders together, promote tolerance, but
turns into verbal brawl over Middle East issue Associated Press
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