JERUSALEM — After halting peace talks with the Palestinians last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has asked his cabinet to bring forward alternative approaches to the intractable conflict, which are likely to include annexing parts of the West Bank or withdrawing from some settlements and shoring up others.

Such unilateral steps have been gaining traction recently among some prominent Israelis close to Mr. Netanyahu, though they have been vigorously opposed by Washington and the Palestinian leadership. They contradict a widely held view that a central element of the formula for a lasting peace is that borders between Israel and a future Palestinian state must be negotiated.

Advocates of unilateral plans say that Mr. Netanyahu had long refused to discuss the go-it-alone option, even privately, and he was not specific when he told ministers on Sunday that he would consider all options in the coming weeks, according to an official who was in the cabinet room.

But right-wing ministers have already seized on the collapse of the American-sponsored talks to renew their call for aggressive actions like annexing the two-thirds of the West Bank known as Area C, as Israel previously did with East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. That would mean applying Israeli civilian law to the area, home to some 350,000 Jewish settlers and, according to the United Nations, 150,000 Palestinians.