For Mr Netanyahu, admitting Labour into his coalition would seem an admission of defeat.
For Mr Netanyahu, Mr Sharon's co-option to the team completes some deft domestic manoeuvring.
The previous evening the reason for Mr Netanyahu's confidence had been made amply apparent.
Televised scenes of daily violence would furnish a perfect backdrop for Mr Netanyahu's more hardline campaign speeches.
Spurning America's good offices, and implicitly impugning its goodwill, are plainly an awkward corner for Mr Netanyahu to be painted into.
Barack Obama is believed to have been thinking of putting forward his own package of peace proposals that might be hard for Mr Netanyahu to embrace.
On the issue of Iran, though, Mr Lapid has expressed strong support for Mr Netanyahu, who has repeatedly warned of the danger of Iran's nuclear programme.
For Mr Netanyahu's more cynical critics this was a sign that the prime minister and his coalition were closing ranks behind a populist move designed to capture public sympathy.
Another ominous possibility for Mr Netanyahu, under discussion in Washington, has Mrs Albright, or President Clinton himself, presenting the American proposal officially, and publicly fingering Israel as the recalcitrant party.
The problem for Mr Netanyahu is that he might need the support both of Mr Lapid and of those parties who represent those ultra-orthodox communities and who fiercely defend their privileges.
One of his senior commanders in Gaza, Muhammad Dahlan, pointed out that it was ludicrous for Mr Netanyahu to negotiate with Mr Sharon and expect the Palestinians to accept the outcome.
Mr Sharon harboured an unwavering contempt for Mr Netanyahu.
For Mr Netanyahu though, who's campaigned under the slogan "A strong prime minister, a strong Israel", security is the most importance issue, with the perceived threat from Iran's nuclear programme at its heart.
For this reason, there are Palestinians who genuinely believe that a victory for Mr Netanyahu, or for Likud's present leader, Ariel Sharon, would be better for their cause than another dose of Mr Barak.
For Mr Netanyahu, trying to steer clear of the theology and keep his coalition intact, the advantage of the proposed compromise is that it gives him a breathing-space until the crisis erupts again or another one breaks out.
For Mr Netanyahu, facing the prospect that the UN General Assembly may vote in September to recognise Palestine as a fully independent state, the border assaults feed his argument that the Palestinians still want all of Palestine, denying the existence of a Jewish state on part of it.
Members of Israel's ruling coalition, meanwhile, have said they will pull their support for Mr. Netanyahu's government if the moratorium is extended.
With 15 seats under his control he became "kingmaker", blocking efforts by the largest party in the Knesset, Kadima, to form a coalition government and instead declaring his support for Likud and Mr Netanyahu.
Mr Obama is being criticised, even by Israelis and Americans on the left, for making demands of Mr Netanyahu that he should have known would never be met.
He muffed a half-chance for a deal with Mr Netanyahu's predecessor, Ehud Olmert, three years ago.
The parliamentary arithmetic does not sustain any alternative candidate for prime minister except Mr Netanyahu.
ECONOMIST: A few glimmers of hope amid the bickering and point-scoring
For one thing, Mr Netanyahu is notoriously opportunistic, a quality that can sometimes be turned to a common good.
It was an act done for the benefit of Mr Netanyahu, who had contended that previous acts of abrogation were inadequate.
For the moment, Mr Netanyahu is flinging himself into the secular-religious fray.
They chastise Mr Netanyahu for his recalcitrance.
ECONOMIST: Binyamin Netanyahu cocks a snook at the American president
The outgoing president, Ezer Weizman, who was forced to resign over financial irregularities, criticised the Rabin-Peres government for pursuing the peace process during a wave of Palestinian terror bombings but was even more scathing in his attacks on Mr Netanyahu for failing to pursue peace.
But when, on Tuesday, Mr Sharon publicly re-offered his rival the foreign ministry for the coming three months, Mr Netanyahu surprised him by accepting the job, while insisting that he would not change his plans to fight Mr Sharon for the Likud leadership.
Opinion polls have rewarded Mr Netanyahu generously for his very public recent rejection in Washington of Mr Obama's peace ideas.
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