Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has reportedly met stiff opposition within his cabinet to a US proposal for freezing settlement construction in the West Bank for 90 days. Netanyahu's cabinet has been mulling the proposal for two weeks, and the stakes for a future peace deal with the Palestinians might be high. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, on Sunday said he will not return to peace talks with Israel unless there is a freeze on settlement building that includes East Jerusalem.

The Obama administration's attempts at seducing Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, are getting embarrassing. Netanyahu has made it very clear he is not interested. According to Ha'aretz, the latest (and most cringe-worthy) moment in the saga came this week when Dennis Ross, the president's top adviser on Israel-Palestinian issues, convinced Obama that Israel would only agree to an extension of the settlements freeze if Obama would "come off as friendlier" to Bibi. So Ross and his aides (working with the Israelis) drafted a letter to Netanyahu in which the US would give Israel everything it could possibly want in exchange for a two-month freeze.

Israel's prime minister has claimed that a group of activists intent on violence secretly boarded the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, avoiding security checks, and attacked Israeli troops during last week's deadly raid. Binyamin Netanyahu made the accusations during a cabinet meeting on Sunday but provided no evidence to back them up.