The UN Human Rights Council has backed a report into the Israeli offensive in Gaza that accuses both Israel and Palestinian militants of war crimes.
The report by Richard Goldstone calls for credible investigations by Israel and Hamas, and suggests international war crimes prosecutions if they do not.
Twenty-five countries voted for the resolution, while six were against.
Both Israel and the US opposed official endorsement of the report, saying it would set back Middle East peace hopes.
The Palestinian Authority initially backed deferring a vote, but changed its position after domestic criticism.
Palestinians and human rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans were killed in the 22-day conflict that ended in January, but Israel puts the figure at 1,166. Thirteen Israelis were killed.
'Culture of impunity'
Before the vote in Geneva - in which 11 countries abstained and five others, including the UK and France, chose not to vote - Palestinian representative Ibrahim Kraishi argued that the matter was simply about respect for the rule of law.
"All we ask from you is that the criminals and the murderers from any side and in any place should not remain outside justice," he said.
Earlier, the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, insisted that now was the time to end the "culture of impunity" which continues to prevail in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
In contrast, Israel had lobbied intensively against the resolution.
The Israeli government said the Goldstone report was biased against Israel and removed the right of nations to defend themselves against terrorists.
The US representative in Geneva agreed, saying that the resolution - which also criticised Israel for its recent actions in East Jerusalem - only made the prospect of a meaningful peace process more difficult.
But he also urged both sides to launch independent investigations.
The BBC's Tim Franks in Jerusalem says momentum behind the Goldstone report will grow and the UN may take it up in New York.
'Diplomatic farce'
The 575-page report by Mr Goldstone concluded that Israel had "committed actions amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity" by using disproportionate force, deliberately targeting civilians, using Palestinians as human shields and destroying civilian infrastructure during its offensive in Gaza.
“ We hope this will be followed up in the UN Security Council to ensure such Israeli crimes are not repeated ”
Saeb Erekat Palestinian Authority negotiator
It also found there was also evidence that Palestinian militant groups including Hamas, which controls Gaza, had committed war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity, in their repeated rocket and mortars attacks on southern Israel.
The report demanded that unless the parties to the Gaza war investigated the allegations of war crimes within six months, the cases should be referred to the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
In the short term, the Human Rights Council resolution will provide some political relief for the Palestinian Authority (PA) President, Mahmoud Abbas, our correspondent says.
Mr Abbas had been the butt of intense criticism among the Palestinian public and from his Islamist rivals in Hamas, for initially trying to delay a vote on the Goldstone report, he adds.
The PA's chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, welcomed the endorsement of the report and said international action should not end there.
"We hope this will be followed up in the UN Security Council to ensure such Israeli crimes are not repeated," he told AFP news agency.
A Hamas spokesman told the BBC it also supported further UN action, but said nothing about the charges against the group.
"We thank whoever voted for it, and we hope that this vote will be the beginning of the process to bring the Israeli war criminals to justice," Taher al-Nono said.
But Israel's Interior Minister, Eli Yishai, called the decision a "diplomatic farce" and insisted his country's troops had "acted with silk gloves towards innocent [civilians]".
If the report comes before the UN Security Council, the US is expected to veto any call for ICC action against Israel.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/8310754.stm
Published: 2009/10/16 13:47:49 GMT
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