Pact may aid Israeli Red Cross bid

Sun Nov 27,12:19 PM ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli and Palestinian rescue services will on Monday sign an agreement which will help end a dispute over symbols that has kept Israel out of the global Red Cross movement, the Swiss Foreign Ministry said.

Officials from Israel's Magen David Adom (Red Star of David) said the deal, to be signed in Geneva, would guarantee speedier passage for Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances through Israeli military checkpoints in the occupied West Bank.

The Swiss-mediated agreement should also strengthen support for introducing a proposed non-denominational diamond emblem for the humanitarian network next month.

Israel has long complained it could not join the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement. Arab and Muslim countries rejected proposals that would have meant incorporating the Star of David, a symbol that had no formal religious significance.

The Swiss Foreign Ministry called the Israeli-Palestinian agreement an important step on the way to a solution of the emblem issue.

A vote on the resolution to introduce the diamond symbol is widely expected to be approved at a conference called by Switzerland on December 5 and 6 of diplomats from the movement's 192 countries.

Noam Yifrach of Magen David Adom told Reuters: "This marks a significant move toward improving conditions for Palestinians, and we feel confident it improves our chances of finally being able to join forces with the Red Cross and Red Crescent."

The decision to hold the conference reflected an improvement in Arab-Israeli relations since Israel withdrew from the occupied Gaza Strip in September, diplomats say.

Israel would not be alone in benefiting from the diamond compromise. Eritrea, which has a mixed Muslim and Christian population, has been kept out of full membership in the movement because it insists it must use both symbols.

Red Cross officials say the change could help some national societies which inherited symbols from past rulers to attract new staff whose religious beliefs would bar them from working exclusively under cross or crescent.

Geneva is also home to the movement's two main arms -- the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which both back the red diamond compromise.

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