Israel has cut off contacts with the UN Human Rights Council and its chief commissioner Navi Pillay after the UN body created a special commission to investigate Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the Haaretz newspaper reported on Monday.
"We will not permit members of the human rights council to visit Israel and our ambassador has been instructed to not even answer phone calls," Haaretz quoted a senior Israeli official as saying.
The UN human rights body passed a resolution on Thursday that would "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 47-member council adopted the document by 36 votes in favor, while the United States voted against it. Ten countries abstained.
Israeli Foreign Ministry ordered its Human Rights envoy to cut off contacts with the council immediately, Haaretz said.
"We will thus not work with them [UN Human Rights Council] anymore and will not appear before the council," the Israeli official said.
Israel is considering imposing sanctions against Palestine following the UN Human Rights body’s decision, the Haaretz said.
