nted radical Islam and its non-Muslim but extremist sympathizers. The fix, shall we say, was in. <br />
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Coverage of the Madrid affair was enlightening in other ways. The Palestinian daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi gave its July 19 front page over to a large photograph of Saudi King Abdullah about to shake hands, or touching fingertips, with an American rabbi. The headline read, &quot;Hard Words Between Muslims and Jews Are Heard in Religious Dialogue at Madrid.&quot; The day before (July 18), the Tehran daily Ettela'at reported that the lone Iranian participant, a professional interfaith ayatollah named Mohammed-Ali Taskhiri, used the opportunity to denounce Israel as a &quot;usurper&quot; state &quot;founded on injustice.&quot; <br />
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The list of conference participants revealed its superficial status, as a public relations event for the Saudis, although King Abdullah deserves credit, at least, for enabling Jews, Muslims, Christians and others to sit down together under his patronage. Such a conclave still cannot take place on Saudi territory, where no faith but the Wahhabi form of Islam may be practiced by law. But King Abdullah has initiated undeniable if small, positive changes in the kingdom, and this palaver must count among them. <br />
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Yet what else could it have been than a religious Davos, when no identified Israeli was invited? Rabbi David Rosen, chief rabbi of Ireland, had the most exalted title among the Jewish group, but his comments were strictly ameliorative. &quot;If it moves ahead and there are meetings including official Israeli representatives in Saudi Arabia and it expands this, it will be a wonderful beginning,&quot; Rosen said. No such followup is now expected. <br />
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In addition to the Iranian delegate Taskhiri's blast, United Arab Emirates political adviser Izzedin Mustafa Ibraham ranted against the Jewish state. Other aspects of the Madrid meeting were problematical. Russia sent a Christian Orthodox delegation including two clerics, Moscow Patriarch Alexi II and Metropolitan Kirill, who both stand for exclusion of the Roman Catholic church from any legal recognition in Putin's domain. China was represented by state religious functionaries acting in the name of Taoism, Buddhism, and the Chinese state itself. No Tibetans were welcome. Along with the lone Iranian demagogue, one Iraqi, Jawad al-Khalisi, a secondary figure at most, was included. A single Turkish state functionary, Mehmet Gormez, arrived and spoke. The organizers seemed intent on limiting the &quot;dialogue&quot; to those whose messages would be predictable and unproductive. Countries where dialogue would mean something were off the agenda. <br />
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Among other global religious &quot;superstars,&quot; the roster of attendees included Egyptian cleric Mohammed Syed Tantawi, head of the religious university of Al-Azhar and a man of oft-praised but questionable moderation; four rabbinical and other Jewish leaders among a French delegation of about a dozen: German Catholic thinker Hans Kung, who was not a featured speaker; four middle-level papal officials including Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and a few political members of what might best be called &quot;the league of squeezed lemons,&quot; including ex-prime minister Tony Blair of Britain, with a large security staff but no place on the program, and South Africa's Rev. Desmond Tutu, barely remembered by most of the world. <br />
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A new summer of love? In Madrid, at least, the event might better be called &quot;dances with wolves.&quot; If this is the beginning of interfaith cooperation, a great deal more remains to be done. Saudi King Abdullah has great power and responsibility for the future of Islam. We will see if he has the fortitude to use it. <br />
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Stephen Schwartz is a frequent contributor to THE WEEKLY STANDARD. <br />
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