The Palestinian Authority's Foreign Minister Riad Al-Malki charged Wednesday that Israel was responsible for the deaths of more than 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza Strip, citing the Goldstone report on the December-January fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Israeli Ambassador Gabriela Shalev countered Al-Malki, rejecting the use of the council meeting by governments to discuss the report as counterproductive to the Middle East peace process. Israel has rejected the report as one-sided and biased.
"The report favours and legitimises terrorism. It is a prize for terrorist organisations," she said.
"For those of us who seek to resume the peace process in the Middle East, debating the Goldstone Report in the Security Council is but a tale "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing'," she added, using the famous quote from Shakespeare's Macbeth.
Arab and Islamic envoys showed up in force in support of the Palestinians before the 15-nation council in New York in a showdown between them and the council in which the US can veto all attacks against its ally Israel.
The Arabs had demanded that the council debate the report of South African Judge Richard Goldstone on the Gaza fighting. The council rejected the demand, but decided to hold its monthly debate on the Middle East situation to allow Arab and Palestinian envoys to speak.
More than 40 speakers have signed up to address the council on the eve of another debate in the UNHRC in Geneva on the Goldstone report, which was drawn from investigations by a three-member panel commissioned by the 47-member council.
Al-Malki rejected assessments by the US and the UN that progress had been made to advance a settlement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"No real progress has been made in the peace process," he said. "The Goldstone report constitutes a wake-up call that cannot be ignored."
Al-Malki denounced what he called the "savage" killing of Palestinian people by the Israeli Defence Forces during the Gaza fighting with Hamas.
The Goldstone report, published Sep 9, charged both Israel and Hamas with having committed war crimes and acts that amounted to crimes against humanity during the Gaza fighting.
The 547-page report and its findings have infuriated Israel and the US, with the latter trying to bloc discussion in the UNHRC.
The report included recommendations on ways to pursue justice for both sides, including for Israeli and Palestinian authorities to engage in "good faith, independent proceedings" to investigate their own sides within six months.
The report called on the UN Security Council to refer the case to the International Criminal Court's prosecutor in The Hague.
The fighting in Gaza erupted Dec 27, 2008 and lasted three weeks. The report said about 1,400 Palestinians were killed, mostly civilians. Israel suffered the deaths of three civilians and 10 soldiers.
Israel said Hamas fired hundreds of missiles and rockets at residential areas in Israel, threatening the lives of at least 1 million Jews.
The report said the IDF directed its attacks at Palestinians to punish them. It condemned the Israeli blockade on Gaza, calling it a "collective punishment" to isolate the territory.