It is the crazy dream of the Israeli peace camp. A perma-tanned, cigar-smoking Ehud Olmert rises from his political grave to unite Israel's centre-left, beats Benjamin Netanyahu in the upcoming elections and signs a peace deal with the Palestinians.
In a scene straight from a best-of collection of Israeli political soap operas, Olmert, a convicted criminal and the man who supposedly came close to sealing a deal with Mahmoud Abbas in 2009, has been dropping enigmatic hints about his return to the fray.
What happens in the next episode is anybody's guess. Olmert has been convicted of breach of trust and may soon face an appeal from the state prosecutor against his acquittal - in the same trial - on more serious corruption charges. That is without counting a separate bribery trial, which is yet to begin. True, Israelis are used to seeing their politicians in the dock - Aryeh Deri, now re-installed as head of Shas, was convicted in 2000 of taking $155,000 in bribes - and could turn a blind eye. But the High Court, which could disqualify Olmert from running on the basis of any of these cases, may not be so forgiving.
A rebirth of "Olmert the saviour" looks even more pie-in-the-sky when one considers that the majority of Israelis agree with Bibi that security means a focus on Iran's nuclear programme. If re-engaging in the peace process is one of Olmert's biggest selling points, Bibi has spent most of his term successfully burying the issue of the occupation under the simpler and more imminent threat of a nuclear Iran. According to a recent poll, the Israeli public is largely in favour of a two-state solution but deeply pessimistic about the chances of it leading to peace.
