In January 2002, at the peak of violence of the second Intifada, Jewish, Muslim and Christian religious leaders met at a summit in Alexandria, Egypt, with the aim of laying the foundation for a coalition of rational, moderate religious leaders in the region. They signed the "First Alexandria Declaration of the Religious Leaders of the Holy Land," an historic document, which called for an end to bloodshed in the name of religion and incitement against the Other.
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In January 2002, at the second Intifada's peak of violence, religious leaders ― Jews, Muslims, and Christians ― met in Alexandria, Egypt, in an inter-religious peace effort, to lay the foundation for a coalition of rational, moderate religious leaders in the region among the three monotheistic religions. Their mission was to prevent holy wars and to express their objection to totalitarianism and extremism among within the Muslim, Christian and Jewish worlds.
The Alexandria Summit culminated in the signing of the "First Alexandria Declaration of the Religious Leaders of the Holy Land." In signing this historic document, the signatories called for an end to bloodshed in the name of religion, and called to refrain from incitement against all others. They each affirmed their respect for the other's historical and religious inheritance, and pledged to create an environment in which present and future generations can coexist with mutual respect and trust.
In the past few years, following the Alexandria Summit and the signing of the Alexandria Declaration, senior statesmen who were involved in the peace process have come to admit that they erred when underestimating the religious aspect of the conflict in the Middle East and by not seeking the involvement of religious leaders in the process. This approach has been affirmed by Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, in her book The Mighty and the Almighty (2006).Albright stresses that foreign policy professionals must take religious tenets and motivations into account and must supplement traditional diplomacy by enlisting religious leaders in arriving at solutions. She sees some hope for the region in the Alexandria Declaration, which affirms that peace cannot be achieved without “reconciliations between religions and cultures.”
In September 2005, a world summit was convened in New York, in conjunction with the annual UN General Assembly, at the initiative of former US President Bill Clinton, and participated by heads of world-leading states. In this conference, the role of religion in causing war and peace was discussed extensively, as well as the need to develop and promote additional processes similar to the Alexandria Summit. The Mosaica Center played a key role in this conference, by presenting the strategy and action plan led by the Center in Israel and in the Middle East, and its results. Mosaic was represented by Rabbi Michael Melchior, a founder of the Center, and director Gita Hazani, who presented the Center's multi-dimensional model. One of the main decisions made at the conference, influenced by the findings and conclusions of Mosaica's experience, was the general decision by the heads of state to implement effective policies and plans in their own countries to empower moderate religious leaders, invest in resources and develop communal and educational programs on dialogue and inter-religious cooperation, perceived as having a pivotal role in the war against militant ideologies, ignorance and misunderstanding of the Other.
The historic signing of the Alexandria Declaration holds a message of hope for change and a future of reconciliation and stability in the relations between Jews and Muslims in the Middle East. Inspired by the values and principles of this declaration, the Mosaica Center, together with its partners, promotes and implements these values and principles among the various communities within the Jewish and Muslim sectors – targeting community leaders, educators, students, academic institutions, among others. Mosaica's activities focus on expanding and deepening inter-religious dialogue in Israel, the Palestinian Authority and in other Middle Eastern countries on a grassroots basis.
