U.N.'s Israel sleuth asks to investigate Palestinians

By Robert Evans

GENEVA (Reuters) - The new United Nations special investigator on Israeli behavior in the occupied territories said on Monday he wanted clearance to track Palestinian violations of international law.

U.S. professor Richard Falk, barred from Israel after remarks comparing its forces' actions in Gaza to those of the Nazis in wartime Europe, put his proposal to a session of the U.N.'s 47-member Human Rights Council.

In his first address to the body, Falk said he was asking it "to consider expanding (his) mandate to also encompass inquiry into Palestinian violations of international humanitarian law" -- a change that Israel has sought.

Israeli leaders, and some critics of their policies, argue that Palestinian attacks on civilian targets in Israel are in breach of global pacts and should be condemned.

But Falk made clear that his aim was to "insulate" the Council -- where decisions largely rest in the hands of a majority of Islamic and African states normally supported by China, Cuba and Russia -- "from those who contend that its work is tainted by partisan politics."

He also said he did not want to investigate human rights violations by Palestinians inside the territories.

The two-year-old Council, which replaced a discredited predecessor, has held several sessions to condemn Israeli policy in the territories but has generally shielded Islamic and African countries from criticism.

It has also kept away from any criticism of China and Russia and abolished the post of special investigator for Cuba and Belarus, a Moscow ally described in the West as the last dictatorship in Europe.

U.S. WALKOUT

The United States announced earlier this month that it was suspending participation in the Council, where it was an observer. European and some Latin American countries have also voiced concern at the direction the body is taking.

Falk, a Jew who is fiercely critical of what he describes as "pro-Israel" influence on U.S. foreign policies, told the Council his proposal was aimed at making his work "as effective as possible".

At present, the mandate allows him only to report on Israeli violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the territories.

This had allowed critics of the Council to complain about "the bias and one-sidedness of the approach taken," he said, adding these complaints had "considerable merit".

Falk -- who argued last year that "genocidal tendencies" in Israeli policies could lead to a "Palestinian Holocaust" -- said the criticisms made it possible to deflect attention from the substance of findings on Israeli violations.

Diplomats said it was likely that the Council would agree to the request from Falk, who pledged to take "an objective and impartial approach" to his work.

(Editing by Jonathan Lynn and Janet Lawrence)