Israeli rabbi invited to Saudi interfaith meeting

Saudi Arabia has invited an Israeli rabbi to an interfaith conference in Spain, potentially the first step in wider contacts between the kingdom and Israel, the rabbi told The Associated Press on Thursday. Rabbi David Rosen said Saudi Arabia called the conference, set for Madrid from July 16-18, to bring world religions together to confront common challenges. Rosen called the invitation "a historic step for them." But he warned that it might be no more than a Saudi attempt to improve its image and that of Islam in the face of criticism over the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S. and other instances of Islamic extremism. No comment was available Thursday from the Saudi embassy in Madrid. Israel and Saudi Arabia have no diplomatic relations. As guardian of Islam's two holiest sites, Saudi Arabia has traditionally... [read full story]