In a rare war of words, the Israeli mission today criticized UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan for what it said was an unfair and biased letter of protest to Israel's prime minister and chastised UN officials for leaking it to the media.
Mr Annan's letter to Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon, which was widely publicized, said Israel's recent offensive in the West Bank and Gaza resembled all-out conventional warfare, resulting in illegitimate attacks on civilians, ambulances and schools.
The blunt letter, unusual for Mr Annan, was sent during a week of increasing world criticism of Israel's use of heavy weaponry against Palestinians in areas Israel occupied after the 1967 war.
"It is regrettable that the secretary-general's letter fails to reflect the basic fact that it is Palestinian terrorists that are deliberately targeting civilians," the Israeli mission said in a statement.
"The appropriate object of international condemnation must therefore be the terrorist organizations, and the regimes that harbor and support them, particularly in light of the global campaign against terrorism," it said.
"If the United Nations wished to contribute positively to the quest for Middle East peace, it should attempt to gain the trust of both sides," Israel said.
The conduct of UN officials in this respect will not enhance the spirit of trust and goodwill between Israel and the United Nations.
Specifically, Mr Annan pointed to the killing and injuring of civilians and the firing at hospitals and schools, in one case shooting to death a UN guard who was escorting a wounded man to a hospital. All these actions violated the principle of protecting civilians under international law, he said.
In response, Israel said its forces were doing their utmost to inflict the barest minimum of harm on civilians. But terrorist groups in territories under Palestinian control routinely used civilians as human shields in willful disregard for their safety and security.
The war of words between Mr Annan and Israel is unusual as the secretary-general had been one of the few UN officials accepted by Israel as well as Palestinian leaders as a man of good will, going out of his way to deplore Israel's isolation among UN member states.