The Israeli right is terrified. The rumor has been going around for weeks, perhaps even months. Ministers, Knesset members, settlers, lobbyists and right-wing journalists have all been murmuring — sometimes loudly — about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's move. The big plan. The historic abandonment of Judea and Samaria.

Even though he has been serving as the official leader of Israel's right since 1993 — with a short hiatus in favor of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon — Netanyahu has nonetheless not enjoyed the trust of the hard-core right. These people trust neither him nor his resilience. They are concerned by his low breaking point. They are convinced that under heavy, combined pressure, Netanyahu will have no problem "breaking" or feigning it. They are convinced that this moment is imminent.

Recently, the right-wing core in the Likud Party has been holding frequent meetings behind closed doors during which they exchange information and prepare contingency plans in light of the belief that at some point Netanyahu will "come out of the closet" with an interim arrangement with the Palestinians. This group consists of Deputy Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin, Deputy Transportation Minister Tzipi Hotovely, Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon, former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokeswoman and Knesset member Miri Regev, Knesset member Yariv Levine and other Knesset members. It also consists of ministers, yet they are more cautious. Trying to straddle the sidelines — one foot here another foot there — these ministers back Netanyahu on the one hand, but hold hushed talks with concerned right-wing people on the other, assuring them "to be there for them when this happens."

So what is the grand plan? In broad strokes, its tenets are as follows. This is a plan hatched between the US administration and Netanyahu, with Palestinian knowledge as well as the tacit knowledge of other elements in the Middle East. Its general underlying principle is "Iran for Palestine." US President Barack Obama pledges, by also giving his own personal guarantee, to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear capability. In return, Netanyahu will reciprocate by awarding him a diplomatic achievement vis-a-vis the Palestinians. We have seen the first step in this direction in recent weeks in the arrangement Obama has worked out to disarm Syria of its chemical weapons. Netanyahu did not speak against this arrangement, partly because he has received US assurances that this will not be a precedent, that the Iranian issue is entirely different from the Syrian one and that the "credible threat" of a military strike on Syria still remains on the table.