White House Breaks Ranks With Israel to Back Draft Resolution

The US administration signaled a renewed willingness to detach itself from Israel, its main ally in the Middle East, when it backed a UN resolution yesterday calling for an immediate ceasefire in the 13-day conflict in Gaza.

There were frantic scenes of last-minute discussions over the timing of a vote, but all other issues appeared to have been agreed.

The resolution, forced through the UN system in the face of Israeli opposition, broke a deadlock in the international community's response to the crisis that risked exposing the UN to ridicule and caused a tense standoff between the US and Arab countries.

It came at the end of three days of intensive negotiations, with unanimous agreement being reached, barring what one senior western diplomat described as "twiddles" to the wording.

The draft called for an immediate end to the fighting and swift measures to ease the humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip.

The resolution - which was expected to be passed by the security council by today at the latest - is highly significant, as it points to a sharp shift in tack from the US, Israel's most powerful ally. When discussions first began at the UN last Saturday, Washington blocked even a press statement, the weakest form of UN communication.

By Wednesday, the Bush administration had come round to the idea, proposed by Britain and France, of an official statement to be issued by the presidency of the security council, but continued to reject any talk of a formal resolution.

Then, in dramatic events on Wednesday night, Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, announced a complete volte face, swinging the force of the US behind the resolution.

That astonished diplomats closely involved in the negotiations, who moved swiftly to issue a text of the resolution drafted largely by British officials.

The US U-turn signalled a fresh willingness on the part of Washington to incur the displeasure of the Israeli government, which was described by one senior western diplomat as "displeased" by the resolution.

Rice is understood to have had at least six phone calls with Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister, last night during horsetrading over the precise language of the resolution.

One possible explanation for the US shift in tack maybe the desire of the Bush administration to end on a positive note - the US was keen to avoid using its veto to block an alternative resolution tabled by Libya.

There was speculation too that the incoming Obama administration may have played a part, having already made clear its desire to rebuild bridges with the Arab world.

A further factor was the rapidly mounting pressure on the US, UK and France - the three permanent members of the UN security council who have led the western response to the crisis - coming from Arab nations.

There were unconfirmed reports that Saudi Arabia made direct appeals to Washington, warning that unless it was seen to act there would be damaging fallout across the Arab world.

The UK foreign secretary, David Miliband, implicitly recognised the huge significance of the US coming on board. "It's not every day that that UN speaks loudly and clearly about the Middle East. It's a measure of the gravity of the situation that it has brought people together."

Miliband said the resolution had three main objectives - a call for an immediate ceasefire; the end to smuggling of illegal weapons into Gaza which were then used by Hamas to hit Israel; and the opening of crossings between Gaza and neighboring Israel and Egypt to allow the flow of desperately needed food and water to the Palestinian population.

The last remaining hurdle in negotiations was over the timing of a vote of the full UN security council - described as a formality by diplomats with the agreement already reached, but causing residual tensions none the less.

Arab delegates were keen for the vote to take place on Thursday night, as they wished to return to their capitals with a solid result before the start of Friday prayers. An absence of any international action after so many days of bloodshed in Gaza was seen as a possibly incendiary provocation as millions of Muslims gather for their weekly religious observation.

On the other hand, the French delegation in particular was last night arguing heavily for the vote to be put off into Friday.

A senior western diplomat involved in the discussions said that the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, took the view that a delay in proceedings would apply pressure on Israel to announce its own ceasefire in advance of a vote as a way of avoiding the appearance of bowing to international pressure.