Leave it to an Italian to create a beautiful Swiss watch. ■ 401 74* Lflb PET JEWELERS flnf JtVitir d GIFTS Weizman's Gambit Israel's president is making a very untraditional use of his office's venerable standing. 4;• A Unique Collection Of Fine Jewelry, Gifts And Table Top 6885 Orchard Lake Road West Bloomfield, MI 48322 On The Boardwalk (810) 737-2333 E ARE GROWING! 11R1ER ORII EYE IfIJTITUTE Total Family Eye Care Martin I. Ap*, MD, • Michael Y. Greenlet', M.D. • Amy B. Estop, MD, Are Pleased To Announce The Opening Of Another Location For Complete Eye Care (1) w c.r) UJ Commerce Medical Center 8391 Commerce Road #112 Commerce Township, Ml 48382 2 Miles East of Huron Valley Hospital (810-360-7300) CC LU LU B e Our Southfield Location 28905 Northwestern Highway, Southfield, Ml 48034 (810-358-3937) INA FRIEDMAN ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT erusalem — If anyone had failed to notice that Presi- dent Ezer Weizman has been making some very un- presidential waves as of late, his New Year's interview on Israel's Channel 1 put an end to that oversight. In response to grumblings that the president is overstepping the bounds of his fundamentally "fig- urehead role" by criticizing gov- ernment policy, Weizman took the opportunity to set his critics straight. "-Nothing defines what I am al- lowed or forbidden to do," said the feisty 71-year-old president. "I think that if I stand at the head of state, I define for myself what I must do." And that, as Weizman sees it, he must "note where changes should be made ... to warn about things I don't think are right." Strictly speaking, Weizman has a point about the restrictions on his prerogatives. The Basic Law governing the presidency stipulates what the official, if nominal, head of state can or must do (such as sign laws and treaties, receive diplomatic cre- dentials, install judges, and - pardon offenders or commute sentences), but not what he must not. Yet the tradition surrounding the office, from the days of Israel's first president, Chaim Weizmann (Ezer's uncle), dictates that it be totally devoid of political content. Indeed, the question that hovered over the candidacy of the usual- ly uninhibited and often impetu- ous Ezer Weizman was whether he was temperamentally suited to the rather straight-laced job of president and would stick to the "unwritten rules." "It's clear to me what I'm not supposed to do as president," he quipped to well-wishers just af- ter the Knesset vote, "though I'm not yet sure about what I am allowed to do." Buoyed by his popularity, how- ever, in the intervening two-and- a-half years Weizman has imposed his own style and rules on the presidency. The turnabout was first felt as early as December 1993, when Weizman — who perceives his role as promoting and reflecting national consensus — called for the formation of a national unity government (usually reserved for times of major crisis). But the greatest transformation in the president, who was consid- ered an arch-dove when he assumed the office, has come j over the past year. After the bus bombing on Dizengoff Street last October, Weizman refused to take a call from PLO Chairman Yassir Arafat, who intended to denounce the action. Three months later, after the slaughter of 20 soldiers at Beit Lid, Weizman called for suspending the peace talks and to "rethink" the process. And after the April attack on an Israeli bus in the Gaza Strip, he suggested the government consider halting the peace talks altogether. Then, a few weeks ago, Weiz- man moved beyond suggestions. Unless the Palestinian Authori- ty extradited from Jericho the suspected murderers of two Is- raeli hikers, he pledged to refuse commutation of the sentences of Palestinian prisoners slated to be released as a part of the Inter- im Agreement — thus personally blocking the implementation of Oslo II. In his televised New Year in- terview, he repeated that vow (though one of the clauses of the Gaza-Jericho Law makes it pos- sible to release most security pris- oners without his approval). Even more irritating to the government was Weizman's blast at the emerging agreement. "I fear we're giving up assets today, before we go to the (talks on the) final settlement, and I want to approach the final set- "I think that if I stand at the head of state, I define for myself what I must do." tlement with maximum power in hand," he explained to the nation. He also scored the government for the style of its negotiations, even as Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Chairman Arafat were holding marathon talks to final- ly clinch the deal. 'What's the rush?" Weizman snapped. "There's a saying in both Hebrew and Arabic: 'Haste is from the Devil.' The team han- dling the talks doesn't go to sleep; it's tired ... and I think that's a fault." If Prime Minister Yitzhak Ra- bin is annoyed with Weizman for his unprecedented interference, he has been careful not to show it. Time and again, out of respect WEIZMAN'S page 68