The Palestinian observer at the United Nations asked the Security Council on Thursday for a resolution condemning Israel's "excessive use of force" in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
A draft resolution, made available by diplomats to AFP, also called for "the immediate cessation of hostilities" which had claimed at least 74 lives by Thursday.
Released hours after fruitless talks in Paris between Israeli Premier Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, it called for "the immediate resumption of negotiations within the Middle East peace process."
Diplomats said that although the United States had previously been willing for the Security Council to condemn excessive use of force in a statement, it would almost certainly veto a binding resolution.
The council met in open session on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the crisis in the Middle East, but made no statement of any kind.
The text drafted by the Palestinian observer to the UN, Nasser Al-Kidwa, would have the effect of acknowledging that East Jerusalem was occupied territory.
It called upon Israel "to abide scrupulously by its legal obligations and its responsibilities under the fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War."
It noted that the convention, of August 12, 1949, "is applicable to all the territories occupied by Israel since 1967."
The draft also "stresses the need for a speedy inquiry into the tragic events of the last few days, with the aim of preventing their repetition."
But, while it "welcomes any efforts in this regard," it did not explicitly call for an international investigation.
Arafat's demand for an international inquiry, and Barak's rejection of it, were one of the obstacles to agreement in Paris -- UNITED NATIONS (AFP)
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