Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) – An international interfaith conference taking place in New York is the first step in a thousand-mile journey to peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors, a former Israeli diplomat said.
 
Representatives from some 80 countries are attending the two-day meeting at the United Nations, which opened on Wednesday. Aimed at promoting religious tolerance, the “culture of peace” gathering in New York was initiated by Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah. 
 
Abdullah, in opening the conference, called for “peace and harmony.” He said he wanted to “continue what we have started, extending our hand to all who seek peace.”
 
Abdullah has drawn fire from critics for his own country’s religious intolerance. The country embraces the strict Wahhabi stream of Islam and allows no other form of public worship. No Bibles are allowed in Saudi Arabia.

Israeli President Shimon Peres was invited to attend the conference, even though Israel has no diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia. But Saudi officials distanced themselves from the Peres invitation, saying it came from the U.N., not from Abdullah himself.
 
Nevertheless, Peres and King Abdullah did not shake hands or speak privately at the conference, though much ado was made in the press about the fact that they sat in the same room. This was the first time Abdullah remained in his seat while an Israeli leader spoke.
 
Peres broke from his speech to address the Saudi king directly from the podium. He thanked King Abdullah for having presented his peace initiative, which had paved the way for possible contacts.
 
Saudi Arabia proposed a comprehensive peace initiative six years ago that was later adopted by the Arab League. Israel initially rejected the proposal out of hand but Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently spoke favorably about it.
 
It offers normalization of relations with the entire Arab world in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip and West Bank, including eastern Jerusalem. Later the Arab League amended the proposal to include a right of return for Palestinians to Israel – something that Israelis say would be demographic suicide for the Jewish State.
 
“I wish that your voice will become the prevailing voice of the whole region of all people -- it’s right, it’s needed, it’s promising,” Peres told the king.
 
Caution
 
In Israel, others were more cautious about the conference.
 
Former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Dr. Dore Gold said the conference was important because "it was a first step along a thousand mile road.” 
 
“We have a very long road to go to establish real interfaith understanding in light of present circumstances,” Gold told CNSNews.com. Gold noted that Peres never said that Israel has accepted the Saudi initiative as it stands now.
 
“It obviously has to be the subject of negotiation. But if the Arab League states see it as a take-it-or-leave-it proposal -- that requires Israel to accept the re-division of Jerusalem up front -- then the Arab League initiative remains extremely problematic,” said Gold, head of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and an expert on Saudi Arabia.
 
Israel wants to maintain large Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank in any final agreement with the Palestinians.
 
Another 180,000 Israelis live in Jewish neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem that Palestinians want for the capital of a future Palestinian state. Earlier this week, political figures criticized Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for suggesting again that Jerusalem should be divided in a final agreement with the Palestinians.
 
Gold said the most important thing would be a change on the ground in Saudi Arabia, where the funding of extremist madrasahs (schools) must be halted and an ideology of tolerance replace the ideology of jihad.
 
Asked if he sees such changes on the ground, Gold said there are some “self-critical writers” in Saudi Arabia who are calling for change. “All we can do is hope that they become the dominant voice and that the government adopts their recommendations,” he said.
 
Zalman Shoval, a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., said that the conference in general was a good thing but it depended on the attitude of the participants.
 
If the purpose of the conference is to create harmony between religions or to send a message that terrorism is against every religion, then it is a good thing Shoval told CNSNews.com.
 
But if it is used to push a “detailed political agenda,” then it could arouse antagonism, he said. He specifically mentioned the “so-called Arab peace plan” (the Arab League initiative), saying that making it the “centerpiece” of the conference would be a “mistake.”
 
“The Saudis could take other steps outside of the conference if they want to create interfaith or international harmony,” he said.
 
Dr. Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Weisenthal Center in Jerusalem, wondered how promising the Saudi voice is if they are ashamed to directly invite Israel to the conference themselves.
 
The thinking of the “optimist” (like Peres) is that if Saudi Arabia and Israel can be in the same gathering together, then one day the Saudis will ultimately invite Israel, Zuroff said by telephone.
 
“But the optimist scenario doesn’t always play out,” he added.