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December 3, 2004/Kislev 20 5765, Vol. 57, No. 14
French Muslims, Jews start talks
PHILIP CARMEL
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
PARIS - Although French Jews and Muslims have launched an organization to foster dialogue between the two groups, the path to true friendship remains rocky.
An interfaith gathering in November at Paris's City of Sciences and Industry marked the launch of the Jewish-Muslim Friendship Association, a group its founders hope will usher in a new era in relations between France's Jewish and Muslim communities.
The group - whose patrons are to be Simone Veil, president of France's Holocaust Foundation and a former president of the European Parliament, and Lebanon's former ambassador to France, Stetie Salah - has set up a 12-person executive committee, including six members from each faith.
The absence of official backing from the French Muslim Council, whose two leading factions - the Federation of French Muslims and the Union of French Islamic Organizations - have touchy relationships with main-stream Jewish groups, put a slight blight on what was widely regarded as a successful and well-attended gathering.
Based on a model that already exists between Jewish and Christian groups, the organization is the brainchild of Rabbi Michel Serfaty, the leader of an Orthodox congregation in Paris and a longtime advocate of interfaith dialogue.
Serfaty, himself the victim of a racially motivated attack last year, was able to bring together an impressive list of Jewish and Muslim clerics for the event, including the chief rabbi of Paris, David Messas, and Dalil Boubakeur, the rector of the city's Grand Mosque.
However, Boubakeur, a moderate known for his close ties with Jewish groups, attended only in his capacity as head of the Paris Mosque rather than as an official representative of the council, of which he is president.
Speaking to JTA shortly after the rabbis and imams were replaced on the stage by Jewish and Muslim musicians in a concert culminating the event, Serfaty described the gathering as "a great success."
"This is the first path toward greater understanding between Muslims and Jews in France," he said.
The spirit of brotherhood was well illustrated at a stall where members of the Jewish and Muslim scout associations were engaged in friendly banter.
Roger Cukierman, the president of the CRIF umbrella organization of French Jews, said the event showed that "things are moving in the right direction," while the absence of some of the more radical Muslim groups was "just a little argument among factions in the council and shouldn't concern us."
"The fact that the principal organizers are the Paris Mosque and the Consistoire shows that there is a tradition of cooperation in this city," he said.
Serfaty, too, said that "we can only work with those who want to work with us."
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