The United States abstained as the UN Security Council adopted a resolution on Saturday condemning "the excessive use of force" against Palestinians in clashes with Israeli forces.
The resolution was adopted 14-0 after two late-night sittings during which the text was gradually watered down under the threat of a US veto.
The vote was taken in the presence of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who had appealed earlier Saturday to all parties in the Middle East conflict "to show utmost restraint and rein in their forces and supporters."
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Richard Holbrooke, described the resolution as "one-sided" and "at variance with the totality of the facts."
He noted that it did not mention Israeli casualties and said it gave the false impression that the violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank was spontaneous.
At least 90 people, mainly Palestinians, have been killed in the clashes.
The council also issued a brief separate statement expressing "grave concern over the escalating tensions and acts of violence" on the border between Israel and Lebanon.
It endorsed Annan's decision to send a special envoy to the region.
But it did not mention the capture of three Israeli soldiers who were seized by Islamist Hizbollah guerrillas on the border Saturday.
Council President Martin Andjaba, the Namibian ambassador to the UN and one of the sponsors of the resolution, told reporters: "We could not cover all the aspects of the situation."
Holbrooke said the United States had been prepared to veto the original resolution, drafted by the Palestinian observer to the UN, Nasser Al-Kidwa, and sponsored by seven non-aligned members of the council.
But "because of some changes and improvements, it was no longer clearly in veto-land," he said.
The decision to abstain, "while making clear our extreme distaste for it," was reached "at the highest levels of government," he said.
The resolution deplored "the provocation carried out at Al-Haram Al-Sharif in Jerusalem on September 28 and the subsequent violence there and at other Holy Places as well as in other areas throughout the territories occupied by Israel since 1967."
But it did not mention Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon, whose visit to the Islamic sanctuary in Jerusalem housing the Al-Aqsa mosque triggered the violence.
It condemned "acts of violence, especially the excessive use of force against Palestinians, resulting in injury and loss of human life."
But while it noted that there had been "over 80 Palestinian deaths and many other casualties," it did not mention the Israeli forces in that context.
The Israeli ambassador to the UN, Yehuda Lancry, said the resolution did not not reflect "the complexity of the reality on the ground."
There was "no Israeli military machine fighting unarmed Palestinians civilians," he said.
"We are defending ourselves against armed Palestinian policemen and militia," he added.
The resolution called upon "Israel, the occupying power, to abide scrupulously by its legal obligations and its responsibilities under the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilians in Time of War."
But, under pressure from the United States, council members agreed to delete language which noted that the convention, of August 12, 1949, "is applicable to all the territories occupied by Israel since 1967."
Diplomats had earlier said that, if accepted, the wording would have the effect of acknowledging that East Jerusalem was occupied territory.
In the small hours of Saturday, Holbrooke, told reporters the negotiations had produced "the most difficult resolution the Security Council has dealt with since I came here 14 months ago."
The vote was taken at 7:45 p.m. (2345 GMT) after a total of more than 20 hours of consultations which had stretched into the small hours on Friday and Saturday – UNITED NATIONS (AFP)
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