The US yesterday criticised the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, suggesting she had taken a one-sided view in a report on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But at the same time, a special inquiry team set up by the Human Rights Commission and including a respected US academic effectively backed Mrs Robinson and said Israel was seriously violating Palestinian rights.
The criticism of Mrs Robinson was publicly delivered by Ms Shirin Tahir-Kheli, head of the US delegation to the 53-member commission's annual six-week session, which opened on Monday.
Ms Tahir-Kheli, an academic appointed by President George Bush, said the US was deeply disturbed by the violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
"The causes of this situation are many and complex, and no one should be under any illusion that they stem from just one side," she told the commission. "We believe the High Commissioner could have made this point much more clearly in her report."
Mrs Robinson had said after visiting the Middle East last November that she was "shocked, dismayed and even devastated" by the situation of Palestinian civilians caught up in violence which started last September. She later called for the removal of many Israeli settlements in Palestinian areas, saying they were a prime cause of tension.