Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres once proposed to Yasser Arafat that Gaza be recognized as an independent Palestinian state, while The West Bank be given the status of an autonomous region of Israel attached to the new Palestine state.

 "I thought this would permit the Palestinians to negotiate (a Jordanian Palestinian confederation) with the Jordanians from the point of view of statehood," Peres told journalist Robert Littell. "But the Palestinians were reluctant at the time," Peres added. 

This was one of the morsels of news developed in a far ranging five-part interview with Litrell that probed Peres' philosophy, religious beliefs, view of other world leaders and experiences as one of Israel's foremost thinkers and political leaders.

 The Q&A format of the book gives readers the feeling of actually being present for the interview in which Litell, a novelist and former Newsweek correspondent, by his questions demonstrated a deep knowledge of Jewish history and Israeli politics.

 This review can only excerpt but a few samples from a fascinating interview, which I was able to read in one afternoon in about the same time it would have taken to watch a Padres game on television. 

Asked about anti-Semitism in Belorussia from which he emigrated as a child to Israel, Peres suggested that "Jews from earliest times preferred ethics to esthetics, and that looked like a betrayal of human taste, of human normalcy."

Later on, Peres declared that television and the atomic age are two guarantees that a regime like Adolf Hitler's could not rise again. "If somebody were to come today and try to what Hitler did, he would be bombed out," Peres declared.

Discussing his efforts early in Israel's history as a state to build a military alliance with France, Peres told Litrell a story that seemed to prove the maxim that "truth is stranger than fiction." In the hope of being introduced to ranking French officials, he cultivated the friendship of Georges Elgozy, a Jew who served as an economics adviser to then French prime minister Edgar Faure.

 Peres visited Elgozy in his art-laden apartment in Paris, where Elgozy said "I shall be ready to talk with you after my mother has had a look at you." Peres shook hands with Elgozy's mother, who was sitting in the middle of the room. She took Peres' hands and looked at them, then announced to her son "Georges, it's okay." So Elgozy invited Peres to meet him the following day at his office. From there he took him to meet all the ministers whose approval enabled Israel to buy arms.

 One shudders to think what might have happened to Israel's defense capabilities if Peres' fingernails were either dirty or bitten.

Asked how he and Arafat address each other, Peres said the Palestinian leader wanted to be called "President," while he wanted to call Arafat "chairman." Eventually they compromised on the Arabic title Ra'is, which is the equivalent to Rosh (head) in Hebrew. "There was a very nice ambiguity," Peres explained.

While declining to give every specific of the policy he favors towards the creation of a Palestinian state, Peres did tell Littell, "I'm talking about a sort of Benelux" -- a reference to the confederation between Belgium, Nertherlands and Luxembourg. 

"Politically, any agreement should take into consideration the demographic layout. Wherever there are densely popluated Palestinian areas it should be under the rule of the Palestinians, except for the secuirty locations...In the begnning it will look strange, but let's not forget that the Gaza-Jericho agreement--the nature of autonomy--was also unprecedented. We created precedents; we didn't follow precedents."

Asked for his religious views, Peres described God as "a moral resident in our lives more than the master of our affairs."

He went on to add: "As for the afterlife, I doubt it very much. I think in a way death is a liberation. Suppose we were to live forever; what would we do with our lives? .... I don't complain about being a passing phenomenon provided that I can use my time and place properly."

 I can't think of a more engaging book to buy as Israel celebrates its 50th anniversary. I have but one quibble. It should have been indexed because it is likely to become a reference work on Peres' life. Perhaps that will be taken care of in a second edition.