Confronted by a plethora of peace plans and US pressure, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is trying to regain the initiative from his opponents and give the impression he is making every effort to end the impasse with the Palestinians.
After earlier floating the idea of launching "unilateral steps," Sharon warned in a press conference last week that Israel can not avoid "painful compromises" in the quest for peace and confirmed that he was ready to order evacuations from certain areas in the Palestinian territories.
While his still vague words have yet to be translated into any firm action, it represents a change in policy by Sharon who until now has ruled out such unilateral measures.
Sharon has felt under pressure to act after recent criticism from his US allies and Israel's top brass over his policies in the Palestinian territories.
And the launch of an alternative peace plan in Geneva on Monday has also served to underline the lack of progress in the peace process under his stewardship.
According to Dan Schueftan, a professor at the University of Haifa and a long-time champion of unilateral Israeli disengagement in the territories, such a strategy should enable Sharon to retake the initiative by helping determine the borders of any future two-state settlement to his advantage.
Schueftan ruled out a formal annexation of areas of the West Bank for the moment, "because if you annex territories, you have a confrontation with the United States."
Instead Sharon would "simply incorportate them de facto without exchanging their position de jure," Schueftan added.
In a major speech last December in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv, Sharon said he was ready to accept the creation of a Palestinian state encompassing the zones transferred to the control of the Palestinian Authority under the terms of the 1993 Oslo accords, consisting of around 42 percent of the West Bank and more than two-thirds of Gaza.
In contrast, the Geneva Initiative envisages the Palestinians taking control of some 97.5 percent of the West Bank and the entire Gaza Strip.
"The Palestinians and [Yossi] Beilin [chief Israeli backer of the Geneva plan] want to mobilize the demographic argument for 100 percent withdrawal, but you can get rid of Israeli control of most of the Palestinians without giving them what they want. And this is where Sharon is heading," Schueftan said.
Apart from the Geneva plan, the opposition Labor party has detailed its own vision for peace in recent days, while Jewish settlers -- who have long regarded Sharon as their ultimate champion -- have also come up with a blueprint which firmly rejects the principle of exchanging land for peace.
Sharon's talk about the need for concessions is also designed to demonstrate to Israeli public opinion, and the US, that he has no intention of allowing the current impasse with the Palestinians to drag on indefinitely.
According to Joseph Alpher, a former advisor to Sharon's predecessor as premier, Labor's Ehud Barak, Sharon is acutely aware of the pressure building up on him.
"My sense is he is saying these things because there are all kinds of pressures on him, because he understands he is losing public support," Alpher said.
"There are American pressures, but more than anything, he is concerned about the Israeli public. This is his response. He is very careful not to say anything that really commits him."
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