Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 25, 1993 TAG: 9303250087
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: JERUSALEM LENGTH: Medium
ISRAELI PARLIAMENT PICKS EX-GENERAL FOR PRESIDENT
Ezer Weizman, a former general turned dove, was elected Wednesday as Israel's seventh president and said he hoped to play a role in the Middle East peace process.Weizman, the candidate of the governing Labor Party, outpolled former Parliament Speaker Dov Shilansky from the conservative Likud bloc 66-53 in a secret Parliament ballot.
He will succeed Chaim Herzog, who has served two five-year terms, and take office on May 13.
Congratulating Weizman by phone, Herzog said he told the president-elect that he hoped Weizman would be able to "receive all heads of the neighboring [Arab] states here in the president's mansion."
Weizman toasted his victory by saying: "I hope that through the efficient work of the government, I will be able to take part in the development of the Middle East peace process."
The remark suggested that Weizman, 68, hopes to give the largely ceremonial office more substance. The real power is vested in the prime minister.
Weizman, known for his blunt talk, declined to speak further with reporters, saying he was hungry and that hungry people often speak foolishly. "Let's eat," he said.
His uncle, the late Chaim Weizmann, was Israel's first president, from 1949 to 1952.
Ezer Weizman, a former air force commander, was defense minister in the Likud government of the late Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1977 and played a key role in the peace talks with Egypt that produced Israel's only accord with an Arab state.
Weizman quit as defense minister in 1980, in part because he felt the government was not doing enough to make peace with other Arab states and the Palestinians. He later switched from Likud to the left-center Labor Party.
During the five-year Palestinian uprising, Weizman became an advocate of negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization. The government considers the PLO a terrorist group.
He retired from Parliament in February 1992, saying he was finished with politics.
In congratulating him, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said he hoped Weizman would help "ease differences" among Israelis and unite them behind the U.S.-backed Middle East peace talks.