The Islamic Society of Boston has suddenly offered a stay in their suit against critics of their terrorist-linked mosque project: Islamic group offers stay in defamation suit. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

BOSTON —An Islamic society that sued for defamation after local news outlets linked it and its stalled mosque project to anti-Semitic extremists offered Friday to stop litigation in exchange for private mediation.

The Islamic Society of Boston made the offer to the defendants’ attorneys on the same day it filed a lengthy response to a motion to dismiss the suit. The society also sent a letter to leaders in the Jewish and Christian community, as well as local politicians, informing them of the court filing, but also a desire to settle their differences out of court.

“We are far more interested in peace and harmony than in winning a lawsuit,” said the letter from Yousef Abou-Allaban, chairman of the society’s board of directors.

Besides media organizations, the suit named several individuals and community groups who questioned the society’s ties, a move decried as an attempt to bully people who were asking legitimate questions about the mosque. The suit has also chilled dialogue between the society and leaders of the local Jewish community.

Attorneys for the defendants said they were reviewing the offer.

“There would be a lot of concern that people who have used this tactic of intimidation … then go to the media and say, ‘Look how magnanimous we are. Look how dialogue-prone we are,’” said Jeffrey Robbins, an attorney for some of the people sued. Robbins added the offer shows the society has realized the suit was “a terrible thing” that’s backfired because of poor community reaction and lack of evidence.

Jeffrey Clement, who represents defendant Steve Emerson, a terrorism expert who was a source of the news stories, said the offer should have come before people spent so much money to defend themselves.

“This lawsuit never should have been filed,” he said.

Here’s one possible reason for the sudden retreat: Aide’s role in mosque deal eyed.

A top Boston Redevelopment Authority official who previously downplayed his role in the Roxbury mosque project of the Islamic Society of Boston assisted in the city’s reduction of the price the mosque backers paid for the site from $2 million to $175,000, according to BRA documents that have surfaced in lawsuits over the controversial project.

The official, Mohammad Ali-Salaam, the BRA’s deputy director for planning, also raised funds for the project when he traveled to Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates as a representative of the city in 2000. The BRA board gave him permission to make the trip, which was paid for by the Islamic Society, but the BRA spokeswoman, Susan Elsbree, said yesterday that Ali-Salaam was not given permission to raise funds for the project while there.

Elsbree would not comment on the propriety of the fund-raising, but said that ”the Boston Redevelopment Authority firmly believes that Muhammad Ali-Salaam is in full compliance with conflict-of-interest law and state ethics standards as they relate to the Islamic Society of Boston’s mosque development.”

And there’s probably much more that would come out in the course of a trial.