In the most chaotic day of its 30 months in office, the Israeli government yesterday narrowly survived an opposition attempt to oust it, reportedly indicated that it was halting the peace process with the Palestinians, and suggested in vain that President Clinton postpone a scheduled visit to Israel and Gaza next week.
Desperate to placate hardline coalition renegades, who were angered by the recent Wye peace deal with the Palestinians, and who yesterday threatened to join forces with the opposition and topple him, the Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, is said to have assured them that he was cancelling the next peace move - a new West Bank land handover, due on December 18th. Although no formal government decision has been taken to this effect, his Foreign Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, visiting Washington, is reported to have confirmed in private talks with the Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, that the withdrawal would not go ahead.
And Mr Sharon is said to have urged Ms Albright to persuade Mr Clinton to postpone what would be an unprecedented visit to Palestinian-controlled Gaza.
The word from the US last night, however, was that the President would arrive in the region, as intended, on Saturday night.
By toughening his stance on peace moves with the Palestinians, Mr Netanyahu managed to defuse his coalition time-bomb, albeit for a limited period.
The coalition rebels, right-wingers who oppose any further territorial concessions to Mr Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority, were mollified: the anticipated motion calling for the dissolution of the Knesset was postponed, but only for two weeks.
Mr Netanyahu will now try to attract new coalition partners or, if he concludes that he has no alternative, he may opt to call elections himself.
Never particularly stable, Mr Netanyahu's government has been wobbling more than ever since the end of October, when the Prime Minister signed the new peace deal with the Palestinians at the end of the US-hosted Wye River summit.
Last month, as part of that deal, Israel handed back another chunk of occupied West Bank territory, but many members of the predominantly right-wing-Orthodox coalition were furious at that concession.
Their anger has been exacerbated by what Israel insists have been carefully choreographed demonstrations by Palestinian youths throughout the West Bank in the past few days, demanding the release of security prisoners from Israel's jails. Israel freed 250 prisoners last month, but most were common criminals.
The clashes, described by the Palestinians themselves as a prisoners' "Intifada", continued yesterday with more than 30 Palestinians and four members of the Israeli Border Police injured.
In Abu Dis, in East Jerusalem, Palestinian youths stoned an Israeli car, the Israelis opened fire, and a Palestinian youth was critically injured - apparently by a bullet fired by a border policeman.
Two Israeli settlers were wounded by Palestinian gunmen later last night, in the area of the West Bank from which Israel withdrew its forces last month. A statement by the Hamas Islamic movement, issued in Jordan, urged the Palestinians to launch an "armed Intifada" against Israel.
Although Mr Arafat has denied orchestrating the protests, and his own policemen clashed with hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators yesterday in Nablus, Mr Netanyahu is adamant that the Palestinian leadership is to blame. "There is no area of the Wye deal," he told the Knesset last night, "in which the Palestinians have not breached their commitments".
Mr Netanyahu made clear that he would not bend on the prisoner issue. "They want to impose on Israel to release murderers," he said. "I don't free murderers." Mr Netanyahu could yet have the last laugh. If his government does ultimately fall, he could argue to the public that he was genuinely, if cautiously, seeking to achieve peace with the Palestinians. Such a claim could well resonate deeply with voters and see him returned to office with more power than before.