Bereft of anything more substantive to occupy them, the dozens of reporters covering the opening of the Camp David summit focused their attention on the superficial trappings of the brief arrival ceremonies yesterday at the Camp’s helipad for Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and, two hours later, for Israeli Premier Menachem Begin. The White House hosts, probably aware that superficiality would take the place of substance so long as the “no-leak” rule prevails, sought to ensure that the two leaders’ arrivals should be totally identical.
Such things, however, cannot be entirely ensured in advance. As fate would have it, Begin descended from the helicopter before the President and First Lady, Mrs. Rosalynn Carter, managed to reach the foot of the gangway, and so, slightly comically, the two leaders strode towards each other for some 15-20 yards with their arms outstretched and fell into an embrace which seemed even more artificial than such hugs usually do.
The watching reporters could not help noting that the Carter-Sadat embrace had been longer, warmer and had seemed less contrived. Begin, on the other hand, scored one on Sadat by kissing Mrs. Carter’s hand as well as both of her cheeks. Sadat had made do with the cheeks.
An interesting and possibly significant difference which the reporters also noticed was that Begin took the trouble to introduce each of his aides to the President personally, adding words of praise to each of the names. Thus, pointing to former Attorney General Aharon Barak, the Premier said, “He is a Justice of the Supreme Court, now.” Carter replied, “I know.” Sadat, on the other hand, had strolled off between President and Mrs. Carter, leaving his ministers and aides to follow deferentially behind. There could be political importance in this difference between the thoroughly autocratic Sadat and the Cabinet-style situation of Begin. Specifically, the moderating effect upon the Premier of both Defense Minister Chaim Weizman and Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan, as well as of Barak, could prove crucial as the summit conference proceeds.
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