Support for Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon has sunk to its lowest level since he took office.
A poll published today showed that for the first time a majority of voters are dissatisfied with the former general's performance. The finding comes amid violence that has killed over 1,100 people, nearly 300 of them Israelis.
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Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Mr Shimon Perez at a ceremony on the border near Eilat.
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Maariv's Media Watch poll showed 53 percent of a sample 590 Israelis surveyed this week were dissatisfied with Mr Sharon's performance against 42 percent who were happy with it.
Political commentators said Mr Sharon's year-old tenure could be doomed if the right-wing leader, caught between conflicting pressures within his own government, fails to deliver either a peace programme or a winning military strategy.
"There is no doubt that a dramatic development . . . whether a decisive military victory or a surprise political manoeuvre can halt the trend [of declining support], Israeli political commentator Mr Chemi Shalev wrote in the Maarivnewspaper.
"But at the current rate, if the situation continues as is, Sharon is guaranteed to go down blazing," he said.
Some commentators said the Israeli prime minister’s support could be further undermined if he is seen to drag his feet on a Saudi peace proposal that offers Israelis the tantalising prospect of normal relations with the Arab world if they give up land captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Mr Sharon's spokesman, Mr Raanan Gissin, said the prime minister was aware of the polls, which he described as an expression of the public's mood rather than its solid opinion of the prime minister.