VATICAN CITY: STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF WORLD LEADERS AT FUNERAL OF POPE JOHN PAUL II

Record ID: 648199

  • Title: VATICAN CITY: STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF WORLD LEADERS AT FUNERAL OF POPE JOHN PAUL II
  • Date: 9th April 2005
  • Summary: (EU) VATICAN CITY (APRIL 8, 2005)(REUTERS) 1. SCU STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF ISRAELI PRESIDENT MOSHE KATSAV WITH PRESIDENT BASHAR AL-ASSAD OF SYRIA BEHIND HIM AND IRAN'S PRESIDENT MOHAMMAD KHATAMI ON RIGHT OF SCREEN STANDING BESIDE COFFIN OF POPE JOHN PAUL II. 0.15 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 24th April 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: VATICAN CITY
  • Reuters ID: LVA5U4LYJYRDK2VWRBHKXCWSFK5K
  • Story Text: Israeli president says he shook hands with Syrian
    and Iranian presidents.

    Israeli President Moshe Katsav said he shook hands
    with President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, a country formally
    at war with the Jewish state, and the president of Iran at
    the funeral of Pope John Paul on Friday (April 8, 2005).

    It was believed to be the first time an Israeli
    president had shaken hands with Syrian and Iranian leaders.

    "The Syrian president sat in the chair behind me we
    exchanged smiles and shook hands," Katsav, who holds a
    largely ceremonial post, was quoted as telling the Web site
    of Israel's Maariv newspaper.

    The Iranian-born Katsav also said he spoke at the
    Vatican funeral in his native Farsi with Iran's president,
    Mohammad Khatami, about their common city of birth. Iran
    officially seeks Israel's destruction.

    "The president of Iran extended his hand to me, I shook
    it and told him in Farsi 'may peace be upon you'," Katsav
    told the Web site.

    He said he later shook Assad's hand a second time
    during the funeral. "This time it was the Syrian president
    who held out his hand to me," Katsav was quoted as saying.

    Israel and Syria last held peace negotiations in 2000
    which foundered over the future of the Israeli-occupied
    Golan Heights, which the Jewish state captured in the 1967
    Middle East war.

    Syria has called repeatedly for the talks to resume.

    Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said Syrian forces
    must first pull out of Lebanon and stop supporting Lebanese
    and Palestinian militant groups before Israel would
    consider negotiations.


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