Israel's defence minister has threatened to pull his Labour party out of government after a far-right minister called him a fool and liar in a dispute over dismantling West Bank settlements.
Labour's departure could bring down Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government and lead to early elections which are not due until next November.
Labour has threatened several times to quit the government, but appears in no rush to go to elections. Polls suggest Labour would lose.
The dispute between Defence Minister Mr Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Infrastructures Minister Mr Effie Eitam, a settler patron, was sparked by the dismantling of several West Bank settlement outposts by Israeli troops in recent days.
Settlers have set up dozens of outposts without government approval in recent years to prevent the transfer of land to the Palestinians.
At the weekend, a violent confrontation erupted between soldiers and dozens of settlers at one outpost. Troops moved in during the Jewish Sabbath, prompting complaints from settler leaders, many of whom are observant.
On Sunday, Mr Eitam, leader of the National Religious Party, attacked Mr Ben-Eliezer during the weekly Cabinet meeting, calling him a fool, a coward and a liar.
Mr Eitam accused Mr Ben-Eliezer and his colleagues of inciting against him by calling him a fascist. He said Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, also of the Labour Party, called Jewish settler rabbis "rotten."
Mr Sharon reprimanded Mr Eitam yesterday, prompting an assurance by the minister that he would "avoid making such personal comments" in the future, according to a statement by Mr Sharon's office. However, in an interview with Israeli television, Mr Eitam made light of the reprimand.
Infuriated, Mr Ben-Eliezer said Labour would not remain in the same government as Mr Eitam.
"We will not be able to sit with someone who incites," he told Israeli television. "The moment that an inciter and agitator continues to sit at the Cabinet table...we will not be in this government."
AP