Faced with the very real possibility of his coalition collapsing tomorrow, Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, has issued a final plea to the ultra-Orthodox Shas party to maintain the political partnership that gives him his governing majority.
The four cabinet ministers from Shas tendered letters of resignation to Mr Barak yesterday, in the culmination of a crisis that has been bubbling for weeks and overshadowing such major issues as peacemaking with the Palestinians.
But under Israeli law, the resignations take effect only after 48 hours. And so the Prime Minister and his unhappy Shas colleagues have until tomorrow afternoon to resolve their disagreements.
At a press conference last night, Mr Barak attempted to sound firm by insisting that he would not cut a deal with Shas that departed from "the principles of proper administration" and "clean government". But the political facts of life dictate that he has no stable, long-term alternative to a coalition with Shas. Therefore, he came across as a supplicant.
Mr Barak said he was sure that solutions could be found to the dispute with Shas, which revolves around the funding and supervision of the party's school system and its demands for wider broadcasting rights for its radio stations. Indeed, "90 per cent" of the disagreements had already been resolved. He also urged Shas leaders to take heed of the critical decisions facing Israel.
Nevertheless, Mr Barak added rather lamely, if Shas decided to go through with its resignations, he would respect that decision and would set up, instead, "the best government we can establish in these circumstances".
Unfortunately for Mr Barak, the "best government" without Shas could barely scrape a Knesset majority and would be constantly battling to survive. He would be left attempting to reach a dramatic peace deal with either the Palestinians or the Syrians, so that he could fight general elections with a strong hand.
But, of course, the Palestinian and Syrian leaderships would likely harden their positions to maximise concessions from a Prime Minister running out of time.
The 17-man Shas party is faced with the decision to save or sink Mr Barak's coalition. If it bolts and elections ensue, its Knesset leader, Mr Eli Yishai, predicted yesterday, "with God's help we'll get 26 seats". If he genuinely believes that, this coalition is finished. But if his polls are telling him that the electorate will punish Shas for forcing new elections, then Mr Yishai will climb down from his tree today or tomorrow.