The top United Nations human rights body has adopted a resolution condemning Israel for "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity" in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip and has launched an investigation into the violence.

The resolution, adopted at a special session of the UN High Commission on Human Rights on 19 October after a two-day debate, sets up a five-member commission of inquiry backed by a team which will include forensic experts.

The resolution, entitled "Grave and massive violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people by Israel", attacked the "widespread, systematic and gross violations of human rights perpetrated by the Israeli occupying power, in particular mass killings, collective punishments, such as demolition of houses and closure of the Palestinian territories, measures which constitute war crimes and flagrant violations of international humanitarian law and crimes against humanity".

It demanded that Israel put an immediate end to any use of force against civilians, and called upon the international community to take immediate measures to secure the cessation of violence by Israel and to put an end to the ongoing violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories.

The resolution affirmed that the Israeli occupation in itself constituted a grave violation of the human rights of the Palestinian people, and that the deliberate and systematic killing of civilians and children by Israel amounted to a flagrant and grave violation of the right to life and a crime against humanity.

It requested the high commissioner for human rights to visit the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel to take stock of the situation after what it called "disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force" by Israel in the course of confrontations beginning on 28 September that had led to the deaths of 120 civilians, including children. The high commissioner, Mary Robinson, was also asked to facilitate the activities of commission mechanisms in response to the events.

In addition, the resolution requested commission special rapporteurs on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; torture; violence against women; religious intolerance; racial discrimination; and right to housing; its Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; and the representative of the secretary-general for internally displaced persons to carry out immediate missions to the occupied Palestinian territories and to report their findings to the commission at its 57th session and, on an interim basis, to the General Assembly at its 57 session.

The representative of Palestine, Nabil Ramlawi, said the passage of the resolution had "saved the reputation of human rights", which had been "repressed, suppressed, trampled upon, even killed, in Palestine".

The United States, which had opposed the convening of the special session in the first place, voted against the resolution, as did Britain, thereby making a mockery of its so-called "ethical foreign policy" and raising further questions as to whether Prime Minister Tony Blair's Zionist leanings are in the best interests of his country.