Do you intend to be a politically more active president than your predecessors?
It is all a personal matter. What I do know is that there cannot be two governments. But there is a range of possibilities, and the post of president is not confined to that of a symbol hanging on the wall. He can explain or support various aspects of the rules and regulations. But, again, I do not intend to compete with the government; I will respect its authority, as I will that of the judiciary and Parliament, because the president, though the state's foremost personality, cannot take their place.

Do you intend to use your office to defend a ''great cause?''
Israel can make a contribution to the antiterrorist struggle. The Jews account for only 0.2 per cent of the world population, but became the principal target of Hitler, Stalin, Saddam Husayn, and now Iran. By targeting us, these people have forced us to confront terrorism, which could enable us to become a world centre for dealing with terrorism from an ideological and strategic viewpoint, as well as by other means. We want to do with energy that which we have achieved with agriculture: with less and less land, water, and labour, we are producing more and more. We are, for instance, very close to an agreement with Renault to produce in the region, with our Jordanian friends, the first cars running solely on batteries. We also want to develop solar energy, because we prefer to depend on the Sun than on the Saudis: the Sun is more permanent, more democratic.

What do you think about the Islamists' victory in Turkey?
The big question is, who are these Muslims who won in Turkey? As far as I am concerned they are neo-economic Muslims. Tayyip Erdogan (Turkish prime minister) has promised that he will continue the policy that he was pursuing and that has resulted in excellent relations between Israel and Turkey, an open and advanced country.

What is your response to Syrian President Bashir al-Asad's peace offers?
Syria must decide which world it belongs to. It cannot support Hezbollah, supply it with weapons, and try to topple Fu'ad al-Sinyurah's Lebanese Government - which is supported by the United States, Saudi Arabia, and France - while proclaiming that he wants peace. Hezbollah is an anti-peace organization that wants to turn Lebanon into a satellite state of Iran's. You cannot judge a state on what it says, but only on what it does. And why do the Syrians host (Khalid) al-Mish'al (Hamas political leader?) The Syrians do not want to negotiate face to face; they want to talk via the intermediary of the United States. For our part, as the prime minister (Ehud Olmert) has proposed, we are willing to receive President al-Asad to discuss directly with him.

Will economic sanctions be enough to force Iran to freeze its nuclear programme? 
It all depends on the severity of the sanctions. Iran's strength depends entirely on dividing the world. If Iran is confronted with a united front, that country will change. It has already had four successes in this field: Ukraine has decided not to possess nuclear warheads, in exchange for economic aid. The Libyans have also abandoned chemical and nuclear weapons. South Africa, which was very close to having the atomic bomb, ended its ambitions following economic sanctions and without military intervention. And now it is the turn of North Korea, which has abandoned it in exchange for 25m dollars, which is not a high price.

What is the status of Israel's nuclear weapon? 
I will confine myself to reaffirming the Israel will not be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons to the region. In this connection, it was I who invented this formula, which I devised in the early 1960s, during a visit to the White House. 

What model do you envisage with a view to talking with the Palestinians?
As far as I am concerned, the economy is the new credo. Politics deals with war, whereas the economy has to do with relations. It is very difficult to define borders if relations are tense. I propose to the Palestinians trying first to improve relations, while at the same time engaging in negotiations. We have already returned the Egyptian territories (gained during the June 1967 war) down to the last square centimeter. We did the same with the Jordanians. With the Palestinians, we - and that goes for the (Israeli) right, too - accept the idea of a Palestinian state. Colonization belonged to a different era.