The handshake between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Israeli counterpart, Moshe Katsav, at Pope John Paul's funeral, is "a formality" and had no political indication, a Syrian official source said on Friday.

"The protocol required that participants shook hands as a formality ... it has no political indication and does not represent a change in Syria's position," the official SANA news agency quoted the source from the Information Ministry as saying.

"Mr. Katsav turned to President Bashar al-Assad who was standing amid a host of leaders and presidents and shook hands with him without exchanging any verbal phrases," the source said, adding that it was "an incidental case."

The Israeli media reported earlier in the day that the two presidents shook hands with each other twice at the funeral in Vatican City and al-Assad took the initiative to shake Katsav's hand for a second time.

"The Syrian president sat in the chair behind me ..., we exchanged smiles and shook hands," Katsav told the website of Israel's Maariv newspaper.

They shook hands for a second time during the funeral when guests were urged to demonstrate a gesture of goodwill toward those around them, the report said.

"This time it was the Syrian president who held out his hand to me," Katsav was quoted as saying.

The Israeli and Syrian delegations had been seated next to each other at the funeral.

Katsav also shook hands with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Khatami, and exchanged words, the report said.

Talks between arch foes Syria and Israel foundered in 2000 largely on the fate of the strategic Golan Heights, which was occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

Syria has made several overtures to the Jewish state for restarting peace negotiations, but was rebuffed.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon insisted that Syrian forces first pull out of Lebanon and stop supporting Lebanese guerrillas and Palestinian militants before Israel would consider negotiations.