http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6877164.ece #

The Middle East peace process was on the brink of collapse last night as Britain and other European countries failed to back Israel in a key vote at the United Nations.

A furious Israel threatened to pull out of peace talks if the UN Human Rights Council endorses today a controversial report condemning the Jewish state for war crimes during the Gaza offensive in January.

Britain is planning to abstain, prompting a heated telephone call between Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, and Gordon Brown on Wednesday night. Mr Netanyahu urged the Prime Minister to oppose the resolution, saying that it could derail the peace process.

During what officials described as a “robust exchange”, Mr Brown said Israel could avoid censure if it held its own inquiry into the Gaza offensive.

Today’s vote in Geneva could prove a major headache for President Obama, who has made Middle East peace a pillar of his foreign policy.

The resolution endorses the controversial Goldstone report, which accuses Israel of targeting civilians in the offensive against Hamas, in which 1,000 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died. The report also criticises the conduct of the militant group, but lays greater blame on Israel. It calls for both sides to conduct their own investigations within six months – or face referral to the International Criminal Court. Mr Netanyahu, however, has made it clear that no Israeli soldier or official will be prosecuted for war crimes over the offensive, telling the Knesset this week: “Israel will not take risks for peace if it can’t defend itself.” Talks about the wording of today’s resolution continued late into the night, but barring the inclusion of Israel’s right to self-defence, Britain and other EU countries are poised to abstain.

US officials said last night that as the resolution stood, they would vote against it. With no state in the 47- member council holding veto power and the majority lined up behind the Palestinians, the resolution looked set to sail through.

British officials said that London’s abstention was calculated to bolster Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Prime Minister. Mr Abbas had been so weakened in the Arab world by his prevarications over the report that his authority, and thus the peace process, was now in serious jeopardy, they said.

Yigal Palmor, the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, told The Times that adoption of the resolution would wreck the peace process: “It will make it impossible for us to take any risks for the sake of peace. What sort of peace process will there be?”