Saudi king's UN appearance has domestic audience

By Samia Nakhoul

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Saudi Arabian King Abdullah will push for religious tolerance at a U.N. meeting opening on Wednesday, aiming not only to impress the West but also to send a message to domestic opponents of his reforms.

"The king wants to drive a message to the Western world: to change the idea that Islam is a religion of war and terror. But he also wants to send a message of tolerance back home where he has a problem," said Jamal Khajoggi, editor of al-Watan daily and a member of the delegation accompanying the king.

"The king wants to change the mind-set of the Saudi people and its clerical establishment."

Abdullah, promoted by Saudi Arabia as a moderate, met Pope Benedict in the Vatican last year, brought Sunni and Shi'ite clerics to Mecca in March and religious leaders to a Madrid conference in June.

It is at his initiative that the U.N. General Assembly is meeting on Wednesday and Thursday for a debate on "interfaith" issues and the "culture of peace."

U.S. President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and leaders and diplomats from some 60 other countries are due to take part.

At a dinner hosted by Ban on Tuesday evening, the Saudi monarch will for the first time be at a gathering with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Saudi officials said there were no plans for close encounters.

Critics dismissed the General Assembly meeting as a public relations exercise. New York-based Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday world leaders should press Abdullah to end systematic religious discrimination in Saudi Arabia.