Mr. Netanyahu has rejected Syria's condition give up the Golan Heights

Dovish members of the leadership, led by President Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, are calling for decisive steps to end Israel's occupation of the West Bank and pursue a peace accord with Syria. They argue that the rise of a less-friendly regime in Egypt would deepen Israel's isolation and undermine its bargaining power.

In light of the impasse, Mr. Barak and senior military officers have been advocating a renewal of talks with Syria as a more promising path to easing the region's tensions. They want to neutralize Syria's support of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia that last fought Israel in 2006.

But Mr. Netanyahu has rejected Syria's condition that Israel agree in principle to give up the Golan Heights, the plateau Syria lost in the 1967 Middle East War.

"Those who think that territorial concessions will cause a severance of the ties between Syria and the axis of evil are deluding themselves and avoiding reality," Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said last year.

Yossi Alpher, a former adviser to Israeli peace negotiators, said Mr. Netanyahu is unlikely to feel pressed by Washington to engage with the Palestinians or Syria anytime soon.

"The U.S. administration," he said, "is going to be preoccupied with Egypt at least in the immediate future and will not place any great emphasis on forward movement on [Mr. Netanyahu's] part."