In Geneva yesterday, Arab states demanded an international inquiry into Israeli "crimes against humanity", but came under pressure from Western powers to back down.
Mr Yaakov Levy, Israel's ambassador, took the floor at the end of the first day of a special session to urge the UN Commission on Human Rights to "support the parties" which agreed to a fact-finding mission into nearly three weeks of violence.
"If the parties concerned agreed to a fact-finding mission with the US chairing, and UN involvement, and agreed to continue negotiations once violence ceases on the basis of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, can we not agree too?" he asked the 53-member state body.
"Let us support the leaders who reached an understanding at the summit," Mr Levy said. "We are destined to live together in this region, we cannot avoid it."
Earlier, Mr Nabil Ramlawi, head of the Palestinian observer mission to the UN in Geneva, called on the commission to "take concrete measures to put an end to such violations and crimes and bring their perpetrators to justice".
But Arab diplomats in Geneva said they were under US and EU pressure to tone down their draft resolution which would condemn Israel for "crimes against humanity".
The current Arab draft text calls for an international inquiry and urgent missions to the region by the UN Human Rights Commissioner, Mrs Mary Robinson.
The US ambassador, Ms Nancy Rubin, said the Arab resolution was "so one-sided and inflammatory as to complicate if not undermine the efforts under way to bring the violence to a halt."