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Unaware he shook Israeli leader hand: Egypt Tantawi

Written by Egypt News Tuesday, 02 December 2008 Egypt's leading Muslim cleric Mohammed Tantawi has denied he knowingly shook hands with Israeli President Shimon Peres at a religious conference, saying he did not recognize him, a newspaper reported Tuesday
Pictures of the handshake during a U.N.-sponsored religious dialogue last month caused a furor in the Egyptian opposition press and demands by an opposition lawmaker that the government-appointed Tantawi be sacked.
According to Al-Masri al-Yom newspaper, Tantawi, who heads the Islamic Al-Azhar University, said that he did not know the octogenarian Peres, who has occupied various positions in the Israeli government since its founding in 1948 and is a Nobel peace prize winner.
Those who published the pictures of the handshake were "a group of lunatics," he added.
"I shook his hand without knowing what he looked like," he said. "The handshake was in passing... because I don't know him to begin with."
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace deal with Israel, in 1979, but since then has refused a "normalization" of relations until Israel hands back occupied Arab lands.
EGYPT NEWS