President Barack Obama’s upcoming visit to Israel next month has raised the Israel-Palestinian diplomatic process all at once to the top of the public agenda – an issue that has been dormant for four years. Former chief of staff and Kadima party chair Shaul Mofaz is gearing up to re-launch his diplomatic plan that aroused a great stir in the world three years ago.

The United States has returned the “diplomatic process” to the coalition negotiating table, after it disappeared almost completely from the public discourse. At the same time, the Americans are clearly hinting at the proper place this issue ought to receive on the priority list and, therefore, what kind of coalition should be assembled. Even [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, who distanced himself from this issue throughout the election campaign, has been talking over recent days about his willingness to renew negotiations with the Palestinians, and is using this card in his efforts to form a broad-based government.

Shaul Mofaz, who does not hide his desire to join the government, updated his diplomatic plan that was titled, “Determining Borders and Security Arrangements First.” This was a plan he launched three years ago [in 2009] that was disparaged at the time by then-Kadima chair Tzipi Livni. However, the program won support in the international community that viewed it as a beacon of light in the political wilderness: a pragmatic, sober program that could jump-start negotiations with the Palestinians.

Mofaz himself is a political tragedy. While the highest past and present defense officials voted for him in the recent elections, the public did not place their trust in him and he barely crossed the electoral threshold to the Knesset. There is an incomprehensible gap between Mofaz the politician and Mofaz the defense expert. As a politician, he's viewed by the general public as a “zig-zagger,” an opportunist, a man who does not stand by his word; in many cases, these appellations are justified. But as [former] Defense Minister and Chief of Staff, Mofaz enjoys the widespread esteem of the Israeli defense system and the international community. But Mofaz does not surrender to despair. He believes that even with two mandates, he is still relevant and influential. In the coming days, Mofaz will re-launch his political program; he updated it on the heels of the Arab Spring which, he claims, transforms an agreement with the Palestinians into an almost existential issue.