Defying an American ultimatum, Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, flew to Paris last night for a meeting today with the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright. He had failed to secure a government decision on how much land Israel will give the Palestinians in the next phase of the peace process.
Ms Albright, who last met Mr Netanyahu 10 days ago, urged him to bring a detailed map to their next meeting, showing precisely which areas of the West Bank Israel is ready to hand over to Mr Yasser Arafat in a long-overdue troop withdrawal. But the Israeli cabinet has not finalised any such map, nor have ministers taken a decision on what percentage of West Bank land will be given to Mr Arafat.
According to some accounts, Mr Netanyahu had intended to accede to the American demands, and was ready to tell Ms Albright of a willingness for a troop withdrawal from another 10 per cent of occupied territory - a pullout that would probably have been acceptable to the Americans.
But threats from right-wing coalition members to bring down his government seem to have prompted a prime ministerial climb-down. The Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr David Levy, insisted at a cabinet meeting yesterday that Mr Netanyahu could not afford to turn up empty-handed to Ms Albright. But the Infrastructure Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, a veteran hard-liner, insisted that the prime minister should not commit himself to the precise details of the pullback until it was clear that Mr Arafat was honouring all his obligations under the Oslo peace accords. Mr Sharon won the day.
Mr Levy, who had been considering accompanying Mr Netanyahu to Paris, decided to stay at home. Mr Sharon emerged triumphant from the cabinet meeting, proclaiming, "the prime minister has stopped before crossing the danger line".
While his entourage waited at the airport, Mr Netanyahu embarked on a series of meetings with Mr Levy, settler leaders, and other key advisers, desperately trying to reach a consensus on what exactly he should say to the Secretary of State. Time after time, the scheduled departure of his flight was put back. Finally, he abandoned his consensus attempt and headed for the airport.
Given that Mr Netanyahu, though mapless, will likely pledge Ms Albright that he'll implement the troop withdrawal if she would be a little more patient, it seems improbable that today's meeting will end in a public argument. But time is most certainly running out for the prime minister.
Quite soon he is going to have to make a choice: between preserving his relations with the hardliners in his own coalition, and preserving Israel's strong ties with the Clinton administration. One right-wing Knesset member, Mr Zvi Hendel, said flatly after talks with Mr Netanyahu yesterday, "If there are any further withdrawals without [the Palestinian Authority] extraditing terrorists to us, he has no government."
To assuage his critics who fear that a new withdrawal will leave some settlements isolated in Palestinian areas, Mr Netanyahu published a statement pledging to "safeguard all the settlements, the surrounding areas, and the roads leading to them". But as Mr Arafat already holds almost 30 per cent of the West Bank, and there are some areas where Israel is determined to retain control because of security considerations, the truth is that any substantive pullout will render some settlements islands in a Palestinian West Bank sea.