Nobel Laureate Shimon Peres is an iconic statesman who was President of Israel from 2007-14, also having worked as prime minister and partner in the historic Israel-Palestine Oslo Accords. As President Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to Israel begins, Peres spoke with Pallava Bagla about war, peace and science in the Middle East, Israeli start-ups, Iranian negotiations – and PM Narendra Modi:

You’ve met Prime Minister Narendra Modi – what are your impressions?

Narendra Modi in my eyes represents a new India – it is no longer the India of Gandhi or Nehru. Modi is hands-on, visionary and an executer. I was really surprised by his charisma, his personal charm and his being so open, straightforward and to the point.

I read his speech of inauguration – i was amazed. He remembers every detail, he doesn’t try to beautify anything. For example, he said clearly there’s a lack of restrooms in schools. He went one by one over a great list of what India has to do – but he did not do this as a pessimist. He did this as a man who believes you can handle and overcome it.

Modi thinks deeply. That is vital. If you want to be a leader, serve the people, never worry about yourself. Nothing is smaller in life than your ego – and nothing is bigger than serving the great cause of other people.

Speaking of which, how do you view the Iranian nuclear deal?

Let me outline what was agreed by everybody – number one was, if you want to prevent an Iranian bomb, you need a world coalition. But if you leave one of the great countries or even a small country out, they may become the friend of your enemy. America tried very much to prevent North Korea from getting a bomb – who spoiled it? China. So, if you don’t have China in the coalition, you may have real problems. Also, it was agreed that to press upon Iran, you introduce all options while clearly preferring the non-military – but don’t say you will never use the military.

Today, much of the deal’s become a public debate which is often not reasonable – for example, they say Iran will govern the Middle East. But how can you govern an ungovernable region?

Still, i think by and large, the deal was the right way and today, it’s a matter of fact. Today, you either accept the agreement or you reject it.

I cannot see how you can stop it.

Is peace possible in the Middle East?

Well, war becomes unnecessary in an age of science. It was a must in the age of land because to take land, you need power.

But to have science, an army is of no value – you can’t conquer science by force. In a new age of science, we’ll see that war does not have a role.

You’re among a rare group of politicians who literally built their nation – did you imagine Israel would become a global powerhouse for start-ups and technology?

No – because all we knew about was against us. We had a tiny land with a desert in the south and swamps in the north. We didn’t have a drop of water. We didn’t have natural resources. We discovered that we really have nothing – and that is what made us great. Because when you have nothing, you discover you have something that is called a human being.

History is the story of people who have blessed the land – not land that has blessed people. At a very early age, i learnt that you have to cultivate the human being.

Another lesson was the Arabs around attacking us. We were tiny and alone, they had armies and we had war before we had an army. We started thinking about how we could equalise – we turned to science.

So, the two great scientific attempts came because we did not have land and we did not have friends.

I was a great dreamer. But today, when people ask me, what’s your greatest mistake, i say, my dream was too small. I recommend to young people whose world it is today – dream big, do not hesitate. The greater your dreams, the more you can achieve.