The Syrian, Iranian, Israeli, and media reactions to Israeli President Katsav’s reported encounters with the Syrian and Iranian Presidents, are anything but unpredictable.
(Reuters)
From Iran, we get denial (i.e lies).
The president of Iran, Mohammed Khatami, denied Israeli President Moshe Katzav’s statement that they spoke together in Persian during the Friday funeral of John Paul II.“I categorically deny that I shook Katzav’s hand, or that I met or talked with him,” said Khatami, according to an announcement from the official government information agency in Teheran.
From Syria, we get different stories (i.e lies).
According to Army Radio, statements were issued Friday evening in Iran and Syria denying that handshakes had occurred.Nevertheless, on Friday night, a member of the Syrian president’s entourage confirmed that they did shake hands. Syrian sources were quoted on Army Radio as saying that the gesture was an expression of manners and has no political significance.
From Israel, we of course get optimism, and much discussion about whether we should read any significance in to the encounters.
And from the media, we get talk of a papal miracle.
Update: Another predictable reaction from the media. Here is the caption to one of the photos from the funeral, which makes it sound like Syria’s Assad initiated the contact with Katsav.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (2nd L) and his wife Asma (L) attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II in Vatican City. The Syrian leader, who was sitting behind his Israeli counterpart in the dignitaries’ section, took the initiative to shake Moshe Katsav’s hand.(AFP/HO/Ammar Abed Rabbo)
Of course, he did initiate contact, but only after Katsav made the first move.
Katsav told Israeli media that he shook hands twice with Syrian President Bashar Assad, who sat one row behind him during the service. Dignitaries were seated in alphabetical order, according to their countries.Katsav said the first handshake occurred when he turned to shake hands with the nearby Swiss leader. “The Syrian president also stood there. We exchanged smiles and shook hands,” Katsav told the Web site of the Maariv daily.“During the prayers, according to the Christian tradition we exchanged handshakes … During this, it was the Syrian president who extended his hand to me and we again shook hands,” he said.
