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Saudi King Abdullah did not say where he hoped the proposed dialogue would take place.
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JERUSALEM –RIYADH (AFP-EJP)---Israel’s two chief rabbis Wednesday weclomed a proposal made by Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah to organize a conference of Jews, Christians and Muslims.
Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger said he is in favour of the proposal. "We are in favour of any dialogue that could put an end to terrorism and violence ", he added.
"The idea of an inter-faith dialogue must be encouraged as long as it is made sincerely," said Shlomo Amar, the Sephardi chief rabbi of Israel.
The Saudi king on Monday proposed inter-faith talks between Muslims, Christians and Jews in a first for the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, the official Saudi news agency reported.
"I ask representatives of all the monotheistic religions to meet with their brothers in faith," the king told delegates to a seminar on "Dialogue Among Civilizations between Japan and the Islamic World."
SPA reported that top Saudi clerics had given the green light for the idea, and that Muslim leaders from other countries would now be consulted.
"If God wills it, we will then meet with our brothers from other religions, including those of the Torah and the Gospel... to come up with ways to safeguard humanity," the king said.
The news agency said he also intended to address the United Nations on the subject.
"We have lost sincerity, morals, fidelity and attachment to our religions and to humanity," the king said, deploring "the disintegration of the family and the rise of atheism in the world -- a frightening phenomenon that all religions must confront and vanquish."
The monarch did not say where he hoped the proposed dialogue would take place.
He said he had discussed the project, which he has been mulling over for two years, with Pope Benedict XVI during his landmark visit to the Vatican last November.
Saudi Arabia and the Vatican do not have diplomatic relations.