Israel Severs Ties with UN Human Rights Council

Israel has cut ties with the United Nations Human Rights Council over its decision to investigate Israeli Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Ygal Palmor said the country had decided to sever contact with the organisation's Human Rights Council.

"There was a decision by the foreign ministry to sever work contacts with the organization," Palmor told AFP. He said Israel had yet to formally inform the council of its decision.

"It means that we're not going to work with them. We're not going to let them carry out any kind of mission for the Human Rights Council, including this probe," Palmor added.

Israel has also decided to bar a UN team from entering Israel or the West Bank as part of a planned investigation on Jewish settlement, according to the ministry.

The visit was due to assess the impact of the settlements on Palestinians.

Last week the council adopted a resolution condemning the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

It announced it had decided to send a fact-finding mission to "investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem".

The probe angered Israel. Officials accused the UN's Human Rights Council of anti-Israel bias and said the inquiry's aim was "to satisfy the Palestinians' whims and to harm future chances to reach an agreement through peaceful means".

The interior ministry issued a statement saying: "While all over the Middle East human rights are violated on an unprecedented scale, the HRC ridicules itself by dedicating its time and resources to establish a superfluous and extravagant body."

Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on a two-state solution stalled in late 2010, following a dispute over settlement construction.

Palestinian leaders say they will only re-enter talks if Israel agrees to suspend all construction of settlements in Palestinian territories.

More than 100 settlements have been built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, providing homes for about 500,000 Israelis.

The settlements are considered to be illegal under international law.

Palestinians have not been deterred by Israel's decision and say they are preparing maps and photos to show as evidence for the fact-finding body.

The news come as Israel's Supreme Court demanded that Israeli settlers evacuate an illegal West Bank outpost by 1 August.

The judgment rejected a previous government-backed deal, which would have allowed the settlers to stay there for another three years.