Foreign Minister David Levy said Monday Israel would accept a lone United Nations emissary following a U.S. promise to try to end U.N. debate on the police killing of 18 Palestinians last month.
Israel had rejected the U.N. Security Council's condemnation of the killings on Jerusalem's Temple Mount and a proposal to send an investigative mission.The new position was an apparent attempt to reduce criticism of Israel which drew world attention away from the Gulf crisis.
"Israel is ready to receive an emissary of the secretary general, not on the basis of the Security Council resolution which we reject," Levy was quoted as telling the parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
After Israel rejected the mission, U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar proposed an unprecedented meeting of all signatories of the Fourth Geneva Convention to discuss alleged Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights.
"The Americans will take steps to remove the subject of the Temple Mount from the Security Council agenda. Cooperation will be restored between Israel and the United States in all matters connected with the Security Council," Levy said.