The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, returns home this morning from a trip to the US and Britain to face the most serious threat to his leadership in 18 months of crisis-filled government. Although he may survive it, his political future is looking ever more cloudy.
Snubbed by President Clinton, who refused to meet him even though they were both in Los Angeles on the same day, then summoned to London to have King Hussein of Jordan urge him to revive the peace process before Mr Yasser Arafat's failing health seals its fate for good, Mr Netanyahu will return to Jerusalem to confront the party colleagues who have used his absence to frantically plot his downfall.
Those colleagues stayed silent when his secretive opening of a Jerusalem archaeological tunnel last year triggered a mini-war with the Palestinians. They backed him to the hilt just weeks ago when he sent Mossad hitmen onto the streets of Amman in a bungled attempt on the life of a Hamas leader. They have bickered among themselves as Israel's fragile relations with neighbouring Arab moderates have fractured.
But when Mr Netanyahu last week engineered an amendment to his governing Likud Party's constitution which strengthens his role in determining who will represent the Likud in the Knesset, they rose up against him.
"Bibi" had promised his ministers he would not use the convention to abolish the party primaries - the system by which the Likud's entire national membership selected candidates for the Knesset. And yet that is what happened: the 3,000 delegates to the party's Central Committee decided that, henceforth, they would choose the Knesset list. And being overwhelmingly pro-Netanyahu, they will do so entirely in accordance with the prime minister's personal preferences.
Mr Netanyahu insisted afterwards he had not intended the vote to go through. But his own ministers do not believe him, and know the amended constitution means he can kill them off at the next elections. And their mistrust has grown amid reports that Mr Netanyahu's chief aide, Mr Avigdor Lieberman, director of the Prime Minister's Office, hired a video cameraman to film dissenters at the convention, found places on the Central Committee for numerous individuals whose only qualification was unswerving loyalty to the prime minister, and even printed voting papers that had the Xs already marked.
For several hours on Monday, Likud Knesset members lined up at a party meeting to castigate Mr Netanyahu. "We have to replace the prime minister," declared former finance minister, Mr Dan Meridor. "He has no shame," agreed another Knesset member, Mr Benny Begin. Even the ultra-cautious Defence Minister, Mr Yitzhak Mordechai, admitted he was having to reconsider his own political affiliations.
Sensing blood, the main opposition Labour Party yesterday held consultations with the smaller parties that partner the Likud in Mr Netanyahu's coalition, and heard greater readiness for alliances than in the past.
"Ehud Barak [the Labour leader] is a very serious candidate," said a leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, the Knesset's third-largest faction. "Shas is disappointed with Bibi."
Sensing mutiny, Mr Netanyahu made public assurances from the US that he would "check everything that needs checking" about the convention chaos on his return, and "fix everything that needs fixing". It is hinted that he may even sacrifice Mr Lieberman.
This would probably not be enough to save him, were it not for the fact that the Likud rebellion is likely to be derailed by arguments among its leaders as to who should replace Mr Netanyahu. Mr Meridor, the Mayor of Jerusalem, Mr Ehud Olmert, and the Tel Aviv Mayor, Mr Roni Millo, all see themselves as candidates, and each other as bitter rivals.
But even if Mr Netanyahu can prevail this time, there is a growing sense that the Israeli public is, finally, turning against him. If that sense infuses the Likud, then, sooner or later, Mr Netanyahu will be ousted.
David Horovitz is managing editor of the Jerusalem Report
A Palestinian held by Israel without charges has stepped up her 27-day hunger strike and is now refusing water. Ms Etaf Eliyan (35), of Islamic Jihad, has lost 27 lbs and her life is in danger, the Mandela Prisoners Institute said. --(Guardian Service)