Two far-right ministers resigned yesterday from Israel's multi-party government, striking a heavy pyschological blow to the Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, who accused them of "undermining national unity" and giving "considerable satisfaction" to the Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat.
The departure of Infrastructure Minister, Mr Avigdor Lieberman, and Tourism Minister, Mr Rehavam Ze'evi - whose resignations take formal effect today, and whose seven-strong National Unity party will now sit in opposition - still leaves Mr Sharon with the support of almost two-thirds of the Knesset's 120 legislators. But there is mounting dissatisfaction with Mr Sharon's performance in parts of his own Likud party, and the former Likud prime minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, who is anxious to make a political comeback, is believed to be trying to exploit that. Mr Sharon is also dependent on both the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, which has proved itself an unreliable coalition partner in the past, and on the Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres's Labour Party, which is in disarray, having held leadership elections recently that ended in deadlock. All that adds up to considerable potential for further coalition resignations, and perhaps even early general elections.
Mr Ze'evi and Mr Lieberman cited the Israeli army's withdrawal, overnight, from two Palestinian neighbourhoods in Hebron, captured 11 days ago, as the "last straw". But Mr Ze'evi acknowledged he had long been unhappy at what he perceived as the pro-Peres tilt of the coalition. He said he had argued against Mr Peres's cease-fire talks with Mr Arafat, taken issue with Mr Sharon's public endorsement of the Palestinian right to statehood, and voiced other, similar opinions "in line with the thinking of the majority of Israeli voters", but had been ignored or overruled. Mr Lieberman said he was appalled the government was doing nothing to thwart an anticipated Bush Administration peace initiative, which, he said, would involve pressure on Israel to relinquish control of parts of Jerusalem.
With Israel having pulled out of Hebron's Abu Sneina and Harat al-Sheikh neighbourhoods, forces loyal to Mr Arafat's West Bank security chief, Mr Jibril Rajoub, were deployed in the area, and Mr Rajoub vowed to put an end to attacks by Palestinian gunmen there. He warned Israel's ongoing policy of killing alleged intifada militants would produce further attacks on Israeli targets.
Israeli troops shot dead one such Hamas militant, Abdel Hamad, in Qalkilya on Sunday, but claimed the explosion that killed Ahmed Marshoud, another Hamas activist, in Nablus yesterday was a "work accident" - that Marshoud had been blown up by his own bomb. Palestinian officials claimed that Israel was responsible. Meanwhile, the Israeli army's chief of staff, Gen Shaul Mofaz, who on Sunday stated his opposition to the Hebron withdrawal, apologised yesterday, saying he had not meant to "oppose the decisions of the political echelon".