Rabbi Marc Schneier spoke to Ehud Olmert about bringing religious leaders into the peace process.
Schneier, the founder of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding who initiated a Muslim-Jewish dialogue among American clerics, met privately Tuesday with the Israeli prime minister, who is in the United States to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Schneier described a recent summit his group organized of rabbis and imams across the United States. He said Olmert described the idea of expanding such a dialogue to include the peace process as “positive.”
In receiving an award Sunday for convening the summit of rabbis and imams, Schneier also made the point about religious leaders being involved in the quest for Middle East peace, given the dominant role that religion plays there.
“Without the participation of imams and rabbis, any of the discussions at Annapolis – all the plans, pronouncements, prescriptions and exertions – will be in vain,” Schneier said.
Schneier and the foundation received the award from the Islamic Center of Long Island, N.Y.
