Lyse Doucet: Settlers are losing faith in Netanyahu

Settlers who began demonstrating against the peace proposals on Wednesday resumed their protests as soon as Mr Netanyahu announced he was returning to the talks.

They held prayer rituals and blocked Palestinian traffic on a number of West Bank roads.

Benny Elon: Confidence vote is prepared

The demonstrating settlers are allied to the Land of Israel Front, a coalition which includes members of parliament from several right-wing parties.

With Mr Netanyahu's governing coalition holding only a slim majority in the Knesset, right-wingers hold the balance of power and are preparing to reject the prime minister if he agrees to a deal to hand over more Israeli-occupied land to the Palestinians.

Benny Elon of the Moledet Party told the BBC that they have a motion of no confidence in Mr Netanyahu prepared.

Mr Netanyahu could survive with the votes of the left-wing Labour opposition, but to carry the maximum numbers of his own supporters he needs to bring back convincing security guarantees from the Palestinians.

'We used to stand together'

"We are sorry Mr Netanyahu has brought us to this point," Mr Elon said. "We used to stand in the same demonstrations," he added, referring to the days when the right-wingers joined Mr Netanyahu in opposing former Prime Minister Shimon Peres.

{Audio 2 }Leaders of the right-wing alliance are also lobbying members of the Israeli cabinet, urging them to oppose any deal.

Natin Slominsky of the National Religious Party said giving up land would be "a matter of another slice on the long road towards the elimination of the state".

The BBC Correspondent in Jerusalem, Lyse Doucet, says that the views of the West Bank's 150,000 Jewish settlers might not be those of the majority of Israelis. In the cities further away, it is possible that the renunciation of territory might be a fair price to pay for security.

Burial on disputed land

There are reports that Jewish extremists in one West Bank settlement have tried to expand its boundaries by burying their dead on the outskirts of their land.

Palestinians in nearby villages have protested against the burial on land which they claim as their own and have asked the Israeli government to order the exhumation of the body.