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NEW YORK — Israel lashed out at the U.N. General Assembly after the body last week called for an immediate halt to the construction of Jewish housing in southeastern Jerusalem.

"Israel categorically rejects the one-sided resolution," said Ambassador David Peleg, acting permanent U.N. representative from Israel.

It "stands in contradiction to the peace process and its principles," he said. "Israel believes that all outstanding issues will be resolved only through direct negotiations between the parties concerned."

The non-binding resolution was adopted Friday of last week at the close of a two-day emergency session convened at the request of Arab states to marshal international pressure to halt Israeli building at Har Homa.

The vote was 134-3, with 11 abstentions. Israel was joined by the United States and Micronesia in voting against the measure.

Israel's decision in March to build Jewish housing in the predominantly Arab area has led to widespread international condemnation and an impasse in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

The emergency session followed the U.S. veto of two similar resolutions in March in the Security Council. It also followed a vote March 13 in a non-emergency session of the General Assembly calling on Israel to drop its construction plan.

Peleg used strong terms to protest the emergency session, the first since 1982, calling it a "relic of the Cold War."

He said Israel believes "there was no procedural or substantive justification for the convening of the `special emergency session,'" while "the international agenda is laden with genuine problems which require urgent attention."

The emergency session was opened by the U.N. observer of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Nasser al-Kidwa. He said Israel's actions and policies violated international law, the Middle East peace accords and "also represent the practical abandonment of the peace process and a declaration of the resumption of occupation."

The April 25 resolution:

*Asked the U.N. secretary-general to monitor and report within two months whether the resolution's demands were being implemented.

*Expressed "the need for scrupulous implementation of the agreements" between Israel and the Palestinians, and urged the international community to "exert all necessary efforts to revive the peace process."

*Cited increasing concern "about the actions of armed Israeli settlers in occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem," and rejected "terrorism in all its forms and manifestations."