Israel warns Britain over UN barrier resolution

A senior British diplomat was among three EU ambassadors summoned by Israel yesterday to be warned that the EU had put in jeopardy its role in the Middle East peace process by backing UN condemnation of the 450m separation barrier.

Israel's angry reaction to the EU's failure to back US opposition to the general assembly resolution came as it once again vowed to continue building the barrier in the wake of the International Court of Justice's ruling that its route through the occupied West Bank was illegal.

Yoav Biran, the Foreign Ministry's director-general, told the diplomats that Israel was disappointed "with the European position, the willingness of the European Union to toe the same line as the Palestinians".

The diplomats - the UK's charge d'affaires, the Dutch Ambassador and the European Commission's envoy in Israel - make up the current "troika" of representatives from the EU dealing with foreign affairs.