RIYADH, 23 May 2006 — Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of Kingdom Holding Company, has contributed SR378,000 to the dialogue with the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development (MEPD) in New York. The prince’s donation came in response to a request from the president of the International Islamic Forum for Dialogue and assistant secretary general of the World Muslim Congress, Hamid ibn Ahmad Al-Rifaie to support the MEPD’s solutions for mutual respect and understanding through dialogue and education.
Stephen P. Cohen established the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development in 1979. Cohen founded the institute to serve as a venue for confidential Arab-Israeli dialogue. The institute created the Business Group for Middle East Peace and Development, the first group of prominent Arab and Jewish businessmen cooperating on political and economic efforts in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The institute was also a pioneer in bringing together major social scientists from Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian universities for collaborative research. At the MEPD Institute, Cohen convened the first secret official negotiations between Israel and the PLO in mid-1980’s, years before Oslo. In recent years, he has also been organizing confidential discussions with Syria’s leadership. As an avid supporter of peace all over the world, Prince Alwaleed has also recently donated $20 million to Georgetown University as a gift to support and expand its Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (CMCU). Prince Alwaleed said, “We are determined to build a bridge between Islam and Christianity for tolerance that transcends cultural and geographical boundaries.....” Furthermore, the prince donated $20 million to Harvard University to create the University-wide Islamic Studies Program. The new program will build on Harvard’s strong commitment to the study of the religious traditions of the world. Prince Alwaleed also contributed a substantial $20 million to the Louvre Museum to establish an Islamic arts section.