Al-Azhar academy approves of Islamic-Jewish meeting

An Islamic institution yesterday said it was religiously acceptable for the grand Imam of Al-Azhar to confer with clergymen from other religious.

The Islamic research academy of Al-Azhar was referring to a recent meeting Sheikh Muhamad Sayed Tantawi held with a visiting Israeli chief rabbi.

"This meeting (between Sheikh Tantawi and the Israeli cleric) offered the chance for Egypt's highest religious authority to voice the Islamic view of Israel's recalcitrant stand over the Palestinian issue, and the peace process, and the Jewish seizure of the Arab territories, including Jerusalem," read a statement from the academy, Al-Wafd daily said.