Our experience in the Christian – Muslim – Arabic dialogue in the Holy Land has taken place before the beginning of the official negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis in 1991. A delegation from Al-Liqa’ Center and a delegation of Jewish clergymen engaged in a dialogue about the concept of the Holy Land in the three divine religions. This first meeting was held in 1989 in the city of Sigtuna in Sweden under the sponsorship of the Swedish institution “Life and Peace”. After this meeting several meetings were held under international sponsorship in order to follow up on the dialogue activity, and this took place in Italy, Japan, Switzerland, Norway, Greece, etc… These meetings have encouraged the two parties to meet in the Holy Land either in Jerusalem or at Al-Liqa’ Center or in another place to follow up the dialogue with the aim of presenting the religious point of view as its holders believe in discussing objectively and scientifically with the aim of reaching points of meeting and understanding. The importance of this dialogue is to expose the mistakes of politicized religious interpretations which serve political ends for one party at the expense of the other party.
These meetings have emphasized importance of not politicizing religion or exploiting it politically or interpreting it in a mistaken and faulty manner. I believe that the many meetings have created fruitful relations among believers of these heavenly religions. These encounters stressed God’s stewardship on earth instead of exploiting God’s words by one party at the expense of the other party or exploiting it by the strong against the weak and the rich against the poor. We believe that one believer is not better than another believer except by the extent of one’s respect for Almighty God and for His magnanimous and fair teachings.
