Olmert is weak, too pre-occupied with his personal survival given the allegations of corruption against him. His coalition is fragile. Olmert, I would say, is not in a position to make any long-term moves. But his predicament is an indicator of the civilian leadership crisis in Israel and the Arab world. We don’t have a Ben-Gurion or a Begin or even a Sharon. The Arabs don’t have a single leader like Nasser or Sadaat anymore. Even Arafat could deliver the goods — unlike the present ones. With Sharon around, we would never have gone to war with Lebanon in 2006.

•Where do you place India on Israel’s diplomatic radar?

India has problems rather similar to Israel. Therefore, the exchange of intelligence and technological know-how could strengthen bilateral relations. And yet, in India, you cannot put security guards in every café, every cinema — this country is too big for that. Drawing the line between nabbing terrorists and victimising innocent people is also a bigger challenge for India.

•Do you therefore advocate any regional alliance?

I think India, Israel, Gulf states, Turkey and Morocco should form a new regional and informal bloc in order to cooperate on practical matters. Such alliances should work according to the one basic principle that an alliance doesn’t mean that we’ve to agree on everything — we must learn to live with our differences. But at all costs, we must prevent people from changing any status quo by force. An alliance of this sort should mutually enhance the positions of the member states — Nehru, Nasser and Tito had understood this well when they formed the Non-Aligned Movement.

... contd.