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TechnoratiMina Fenton, a spokeswoman at Jerusalem City Hall and member of Israel's hawkish National Religious Party, told AP she doubted the Saudis' motives.
"A meeting like this with Saudi Arabia is clearly a political trick," she said. "The Saudis are using it to lie to the West that they are tolerant of others when everybody knows non-Muslims have zero rights in Saudi Arabia."
Others, including Rosen, said the meeting should not be written off.
In an interview with the AP last week, he said that if the conference is a publicity stunt, it will have a limited impact, but that it could also be "the beginning of a process that is in our interest, not just in their interest, in the interest of Israel, the Jewish people and the free world."
Rosen, who serves as head of interfaith relations for the American Jewish Committee, called the Saudi decision to include a rabbi from the Jewish state "a historic step for them."
Spain has no formal role at the conference, other than having agreed to host it. The country has branded itself as a place where the three major religions once all lived together in harmony — though with rather notable exceptions like the Crusades to oust Muslims from Europe and the Inquisition in which Jews and Muslims were persecuted and expelled.
In 2006, Spain and Turkey launched a program called the Alliance of Civilizations, which was meant to foster better understanding between the West and Muslim countries.
Spanish King Juan Carlos was expected to address the conference on its opening day, along with Abdullah. Other than the monarchs' opening remarks, the meeting will be closed to the media.
Associated Press reporters Ian Deitch and Mark Lavie in Jerusalem, Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan and Ciaran Giles in Madrid contributed to this report.
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