The original photo shows President Barack Obama in the lead, flanked by the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Mubarak and Jordan’s King Abdallah on the red carpet as the talks got under way Sept. 1 in Washington.
Al-Ahram, Egypt’s oldest newspaper, altered that image in its Tuesday edition to show Mubarak in the lead, with Obama slightly behind him to his right, plastered over a broadsheet article titled “the Road to Sharm El Sheikh.” That was referring to the Egyptian Red Sea resort that hosted the second round of negotiations, which wrapped up in Jerusalem on Wednesday. The newspaper’s editor-in chief, Osama Saraya, lashed out at critics in an editorial Friday, pointing out the original photo was published the day the talks began and the doctored version was only meant to illustrate Egypt’s leading role in the Mideast peace process, not to change the story.
“The expressionist photo is ... a brief, live and true expression of the prominent stance of President Mubarak in the Palestinian issue, his unique role in leading it before Washington or any other,” Saraya wrote. The photo is still posted on the newspaper’s website.
