Talk On, Jews and Muslims

Terrorism and jittery nerves have aggravated friction between Muslims and Jews in the United States and produced some wild and reckless charges--such as the ludicrous claim that Israel’s secret police were behind the World Trade Center bombing.

Intended to defuse just such verbal grenades, several years of regular monthly Muslim-Jewish “dialogues” between religious leaders in Southern California have produced explosions of their own and suffered setbacks both before and after Sept. 11. Some Jewish members have dropped out because of inflammatory statements by Muslim participants they no longer consider moderates. Muslims have expressed frustration at events they see beyond the meeting table: a pro-Israeli tilt to American foreign policy and their suspicion that American Jews encouraged people to associate Islam with terrorism.

Last spring, local Muslims temporarily called off the conversations because of Israeli military action against Palestinians. Last year, the Council on American Islamic Relations dropped out because the dialogue group wouldn’t condemn Ariel Sharon’s visit to a holy site. Most recently, there were bruised feelings among Jewish participants over anti-Zionist articles in a Los Angeles-based Islamic magazine and the radio comments of an Islamic leader.

As volatile as these talks have been, true moderates must look at the big picture. The United States offers the most desirable setting for rational dialogue they are likely to find. The problems of the Mideast color everything, but such conversations remain a rational American alternative to the way of the gun and the bomb.

For Jews, a young century brings yet another defining moment about their place in the world. Simultaneously, this is “a Muslim moment,” as Omar Ahmad, chairman of the Council for American Islamic Relations, put it--a time when people want to learn about Islam. It is also, however, a time when some local Muslim leaders say that criticism of Israel gets them portrayed as terrorist sympathizers.

Many Muslims in the United States want to live in harmony with Jewish neighbors, but the faltering dialogues illustrate just how sticky things can get on Mideast specifics. As a basis for good-faith discussion, participants should be consistent in what they say, both to partners in dialogue and upon return to their respective communities. These talks won’t be productive unless Muslims recognize Israel’s right to exist. Nor should Jewish participants regard pro-Palestinian sentiments as inherently extremist.

In a world pounded by the deafening rhetoric of the Mideast conflict, the quiet conversation of American religious groups easily can be drowned out. But part of democracy’s strength is that it provides a setting for rational discussion that over time has the potential to influence world events. If the moderates fall silent, then only the extremists will be heard.