IN one of his final television appearances before last May's elections, the Likud prime ministerial candidate, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, was asked how he expected to maintain peaceful relations with the Palestinians while denying them statehood and building Jewish settlements, and how he would be able to prevent war with Syria if he was not prepared to trade land for peace on the Golan Heights.
As ever, Mr Netanyahu had his response ready. Confronted with a new government in Jerusalem, a government that would not continually pressure as Labour's Rabin and Mr Shimon Peres had done, he predicted confidently the Arabs would quickly learn, moderate their demands. They would tailor themselves to the new realities, recognise that a descent into conflict was in nobody's interest, and come to accept the more limited concessions available.
If that assessment sounded glib back then, it still didn't deter a majority of Israelis - traumatised by the intermittent, horrific bus bombings in their major cities from casting their votes for Mr Netanyahu over Mr Peres on May 29th. Now, though, more than half a year later, the prime minister and his supporters know that things haven't quite worked out as they had hoped. Far from tailoring their demands, the leaders of the Arab world have made it plain to Mr Netanyahu that he had better tailor his policies - or risk returning Israel to its previous pariah status.
A flurry of diplomatic activity yesterday confirmed how quickly Mr Netanyahu has been forced on to the defensive. The Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat, internationally regarded now as the hapless victim of Israel's intransigent refusal to implement signed peace accords, enjoyed a warm reception from the Pope at the Vatican.
Mr Netanyahu, by contrast, was back home in Jerusalem anxiously awaiting a report from Mr David Levy, his foreign minister, who had spent the day in Jordan. Mr Levy was desperately trying to placate Israel's closest Arab allies - who have been horrified by Mr Netanyahu's public pledges to "deepen" West Bank settlements and by the breakdown of negotiations with the Palestinians.
Jordanian officials reportedly told the foreign minister that Israel's hardline policies were now directly causing instability in Jordan, where the majority of the population is of Palestinian origin, and King Hussein's personal identification with Israel is threatening his popularity. Mr Yitzhak Mordechai, the Defence Minister, meanwhile, was yesterday invited to go next week to Egypt, where President Hosni, Mubarak has just issued the latest of his relentless warnings to Israel, telling an interviewer that attempts by, Israel to freeze all peace efforts would cause "major complications" for the entire region.
Always a fine advocate, Mr Netanyahu would much rather be bringing messages of calm to Amman and Cairo in person. But neither regime is at present prepared to receive him. Nor, for that matter, are the Moroccans, who spearheaded Israeli-Arab reconciliation in the Rabin era. Nor indeed the Tunisians. And as for Gulf principalities like Oman and Qatar, they too have halted the progress towards normalisation begun in the two years before Mr Netanyahu came to power.
If the Arab world is clearly not about to bend, Mr Netanyahu has seen, too, in his short time in power, how easily political stalemate can lead to violence. It happened in late September, when he opened the Jerusalem archaeological tunnel - a relatively insignificant move, but one that caused outrage because of the dead-lock in peace negotiations. And it nearly happened, at about the same time, with potentially far more catastrophic results, on the Syrian border where the lack of communication and fundamental mistrust between -Jerusalem and Damascus, combined with some highly-publicised military manoeuvres by both sides, almost sparked a full-scale engagement.
And yet, while regional relations deteriorate, and even the Americans are now openly registering their frustration, Mr Netanyahu still seems to believe he can steer some kind of middle course - at once appeasing the Arab world, the US and Europe: on the one hand, and the settlers and far-right on the other.
A statement issued by his cabinet yesterday was a case in point. Having reviewed its settlement policy, Israel, it said, "will continue construction within the existing boundaries of the settlements", but would not confiscate more Arab land to expand them, and would not build new settlements without additional cabinet approval. Here was Mr Netanyahu trying to keep everybody off his back - to assure the world that no new settlements or land seizures were planned, while also telling the settlers there would be plenty more building.
And, yet, predictably, the statement is pleasing no one. Settler leaders last night threatened a public struggle against Mr Netanyahu, the man they almost all backed as prime minister, because they feel he promises far more than he delivers. And American officials have already indicated that, since there is so much land that could be built on within the existing settlement boundaries, they don't consider a pledge of no more confiscations as particularly meaningful.
Mr Netanyahu, it would seem, simply cannot have it both ways. He has to choose between his ideological determination to bring more Jews to the West Bank, and his common-sense desire to avoid all-out war. Settlements or peace. Ministerial goodwill trips to places like Jordan and Egypt might just buy him more time. Yesterday's cabinet statement indicates he may not use it.