This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

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