“At the end of last week, it seemed the changes taking place in the Middle East and the growing international pressure to set the diplomatic process in motion had not gone unnoticed by the prime minister. At a meeting of Likud’s Knesset faction, Benjamin Netanyahu rejected criticism because of the slackening pace of construction in the settlements.

Sources say he declared in closed meetings that a binational state would be “a disaster for Israel” and that, to prevent this, he was putting together a diplomatic plan that would break through the stalemate in the negotiations. He went so far as to promise the German chancellor that he would shortly present his plan in a “Bar-Ilan speech 2″ on the peace process.”

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