Allawi and Shalom

When Ayad Allawi was at the United Nations in New York, he shook hands with Israel's representative Shalom. It was reported in the Western press as just a handshake, unusual for an Arab leader, but still a handshake. Some in the Arab press saw more in the greeting.

Iraq's Azzaman says the Iraqis and the Israelis sat side by side, and Allawi told the Israelis he hoped for peace in the Middle East.

The London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi saw a more complicated gathering. The newspaper reports that the handshake was a "warm" handshake, and that the Americans had promised the Israelis that the new Iraq would sign a peace agreement with Israel.

The paper adds that the plot thickened when Shalom met with foreign ministers from Qatar, Tunis and Oman. He also later met with Egyptian and Jordanian ministers. The paper implied that such meetings were opportunities for high-level plotting.