One man was conspicuous in his absence from the Camp David peace summit - the Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr David Levy (62). The white-haired political veteran pointedly turned down an invitation from his Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, accusing Palestinians of refusing to make the necessary compromises.
Political analysts agree there is a ploy behind any decision taken by this part-pragmatist, part-agitator. A butt of jokes for decades, a politician who swings left or right to meet every opportunity, he manages somehow to survive and thrive. But he has said little in public about his decision, raising questions about his commitment to Mr Barak, to the unstable coalition government and to any peace deal.
"David Levy has always had a very good sense of the way in which the domestic political winds are blowing," said an Israeli political scientist, Dr Gerald Steinberg. "If he is distancing himself from Barak and Camp David, that's a pretty good sign that he thinks that assuming there is an agreement, it will not get domestic support."
Opinion polls show most Israelis are behind Mr Barak, and willing to accept compromises for peace. But his coalition crumbled last week on the eve of his departure, and tens of thousands of Israelis protested against him in Tel Aviv on Sunday.
The Moroccan-born Levy has never had a broad following but has found a niche in coalitions left and right because of his perceived ability to garner support from low-income Sephardic Jews - those with origins in Arab countries.
Mr Levy has backed land-for-peace deals, but he has also imposed constraints. He stayed home from the ground-breaking 1991 Madrid peace conference with all of Israel's neighbours, sulking, his critics said, because the then-Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, decided to lead the Israeli delegation in his place.
Mr Levy suggests privately he did not go to Camp David for fear of embarrassing Mr Barak or his host, President Clinton.
"If I would go there and discover things that are unacceptable to me, I would make a scandal for the prime minister," one official quoted him as saying.
Mr Barak said he needed and wanted Mr Levy by his side, even as tensions surfaced publicly for the first time last week. In a sign of their relationship's complexity, the day Mr Levy decided to stay home from the summit, he backed Mr Barak in a tight no-confidence vote in parliament.
Critics complain Mr Levy does more to help himself than the working-class majority he champions. They say he is not even suited to be foreign minister, given that he speaks no English. He and the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, converse in French, the only language he speaks besides Hebrew.
The wisecracks about Mr Levy stem from his tendency to personalise political moves, a sometimes anti-intellectual rhetoric and a rabble-rousing style of oratory. Critics say he is angry at being kept in the dark. "It is not an ego issue," Mr Levy said on Sunday. "This is not an issue of accompanying - or entertainment. This is a very serious issue, and if I decided not to go, I have very serious reasons."