The diplomatic initiative presented Aug. 11 by Yesh Atid Chairman and Finance Minister Yair Lapid was based on an action plan formulated by a fellow party member, former Shin Bet head and Minister of Science, Technology and Space Yaakov Peri. The plan calls to convene a regional summit, to demilitarize Gaza and transfer its control to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. From Lapid’s standpoint, it enables him to establish a position in the diplomatic-security realm.

Peri was recruited by Lapid in the last election as the senior diplomatic-security figure in the new party, but until the current conflict with Hamas, Yesh Atid was drawn toward an economic-social agenda and Peri’s role hasn’t been realized. Operation Protective Edge returned the former head of the Shin Bet to the nerve center of decision-making — the diplomatic-security Cabinet, where he serves as an observer. Much has been said about the inexperienced Cabinet with which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu embarked on a war in Gaza, and in this respect, Peri has become an important and balancing element in the long deliberations.

Yesh Atid’s initiative, which as mentioned, is based on Peri’s framework, seems on the face of it a timely use of the new regional order that is forming for Israel’s interests. The problem is that with the existing makeup of the coalition, with the Cabinet’s battles over the agenda and small political calculations, the possibility that the prime minister would adopt it is minuscule. On the extremes, the chances that Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman would stand behind it are completely unrealistic.

Nonetheless, the fact that someone in the government with the political clout of 19 seats has put a diplomatic plan on the table is important on the day after the cease-fire. In an interview with Al-Monitor, Peri actually sounds optimistic regarding the political feasibility of the plan.