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"The United Nations Human Rights Council is expected to endorse on Friday the Goldstone Report on Operation Lead Cast and its recommendations, despite the diplomatic efforts undertaken by Israel and the United States in recent days.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who spent much of the past few days on the matter, failed to convince his colleagues, mostly in Europe, to oppose the adoption of the report.
Netanyahu held a series of meetings to assess the Goldstone Report and also had intensive telephone conversations with senior figures in Europe in an effort to block the report.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu spoke with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for 15 minutes, seeking to convince him to support Israel's position in the matter. The prime minister noted that the report was an obstacle to the peace process and described it as "ridiculous" and as "having contributed to the Palestinians' hardening of their stance and refusing negotiations."
At one point, Netanyahu asked the secretary-general to declare publicly Israel's right to defend itself, and requested that he take a stance against the report. The UN official, who mostly listened to the prime minister, did not express support for Israel's view and noted that he cannot take action that runs contrary to the position of the UNHRC as well as the views of the country members of the UN Security Council.
"I have recorded your position, but I cannot intervene," Ban said.
Another conversation the prime minister had, this time with his British counterpart Gordon Brown, was said by a diplomat to have lasted 30 minutes. According to sources, the exchange was uneasy and full of disagreements. Netanyahu tried to convince Brown that the U.K. change its position from abstaining to opposing its adoption by the Human Rights Council.
Netanyahu also protested the fact that the U.K. supported taking the Goldstone Report seriously, and that Britain intends to abstain at the vote.
Minister of Defense Ehud Barak also spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton several times, asking her to act quickly in order to convince more countries to vote against the report's adoption. Clinton also focused her efforts on Britain, whose stance will affect that of other European Union countries.
Clinton asked British Foreign Minister David Miliband to alter his stance and vote against the adoption of the report. However, like Netanyahu, Clinton also failed to convince the British foreign minister."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1121539.html