November 28, 2005

Israeli and Palestinian rescue services have signed an agreement which will help end a dispute over symbols that has kept Israel out of the global Red Cross movement, Switzerland's foreign ministry announced on Friday. Officials from Israel's Magen David Adom (Red Star of David) said the deal, signed in Geneva on Monday, would guarantee speedier passage for Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances through Israeli military checkpoints in the 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 been banned from joining the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement. Arab and Muslim countries rejected proposals that would have meant incorporating the Star of David. 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 for early December of diplomats from the movement's 192 countries. The World Jewish Congress has long been campaigning for the accession of Magen David Adom into the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement and its treatment as equal partner.