JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel‘s parliament took a first step on Wednesday towards forcing early elections, embarrassing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a protest vote over his handling of deadlocked Middle East peace moves. In a preliminary vote with no immediate impact, lawmakers voted 60-6 with one abstention to dissolve the 120-seat Knesset. Neta- nyahu and most of his coalition boycotted the vote. To become law, the bill must pass a committee and three more votes which could take months. Netanyahu‘s term runs to 2000. Four members of Netanyahu‘s coalition supported the bill, including former Finance Minister Dan Meridor of the prime minister‘s Likud party and three of the four members of the centrist Third Way party. Before the vote Netanyahu told parliament the legislation was a trick that would not topple his government. His coalition holds a 61-59 majority in parliament. Although it may never become law, the opposition bill delivered a blow to Netanyahu‘s prestige after 16 months of deadlock in peacemaking with the Palestinians. Netanyahu defeated three no-confidence motions earlier in the week. On Wednesday he told parliament: „The day before yesterday you could have brought down the government with a no-confidence vote and you failed. Now you‘re trying this trick.“