Posted on 09/13/2005 11:03:35 AM PDT by Alouette
GENEVA - Member countries of the international Red Cross movement met on Monday to investigate whether they can revive an effort to give Israel full status five years after the last attempt failed because of Arab-Israeli tension.
The disagreement centers around whether a red Star of David can join the emblems of the red cross and red crescent to identify ambulances, medical workers and others on humanitarian missions.
Israel, which cooperates with the movement, has been denied full membership over the emblem issue for 57 years.
"Members are holding informal discussions on whether or not to convene a diplomatic conference," said Raphael Saborit, a spokesman for the Swiss foreign ministry.
Delegates from 123 countries and several international organizations are meeting for two days behind closed doors to determine whether a consensus would support calling the formal meeting.
The preliminary meeting was called by Switzerland, which is the depository country of the Geneva Conventions on warfare that lays the ground rules for the Red Cross movement.
Switzerland decided earlier this year to revive the process because of favorable "political and diplomatic circumstances," Saborit said.
Switzerland canceled the previous conference, which had been scheduled for October 2000, because of the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada against Israel.
The latest proposal envisions what its proponents call a red crystal — a square standing on one corner, with a blank white interior and a thick red border. Magen David Adom, or MDA, the Israeli society, would be allowed to put its Red Star of David in the center but the Israeli military would not be able to use the combined symbol in an armed conflict to protect its medics.
Once the diplomatic conference agrees to an additional symbol and two member countries ratify it, all members of the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement would be free to chose one of the three symbols.
The American Red Cross has been campaigning for full Israeli membership for years. It has withheld six years' of payment owed to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies — totaling approximately $34 million — since May 2000 to protest the MDA's not being admitted.
The red cross emblem was first adopted in 1863, when Swiss humanitarians founded the movement to care for war victims. It simply reverses the colors of the neutral Swiss flag, without any religious intent.
But Muslims, reminded of the crusader's cross from centuries earlier, refused to use the emblem. Instead, the Ottoman empire was already using the red crescent to protect its medical workers in the 19th century.
The red crescent, along with the Red Lion and Sun of Iran, was enshrined with the red cross in the Geneva conventions of 1929. __
Associated Press writer Alexander G. Higgins contributed to this story.
If they'd just call it a rastafarian symbol, everything would be fine.
No, this is only a symptom of the disagreement; the real problem is that the Arab members of the Red Cross (who are the ONLY ones objecting) still cannot accept the very idea of a nation run by Jews, let alone the reality of it. This is pure anti-Semitism, nothing more and nothing less. The fact that the other members (the US excepted, as usual) permit this bullshiite to continue earns them a pox on their houses.
The latest proposal envisions what its proponents call a red crystal — a square standing on one corner, with a blank white interior and a thick red border. Magen David Adom, or MDA, the Israeli society, would be allowed to put its Red Star of David in the center but the Israeli military would not be able to use the combined symbol in an armed conflict to protect its medics.
To use anything other than the existing symbol, which is also the symbol for Israel the nation, is unbelieveably insulting. I suppose that it was OK for the German military in WW1 to use the Red Cross symbol while having the Knights Cross on vehicles and planes, but not for the JOOOOOS.
KCUF that noise. Israel should want to have little to nothing to do with such trash.
The RC will never recognize the Magen David 'Adom at any time because of its own anti-Semitic roots.
I'd tell them to get bent.
One of the co-founders of the American Red Cross (together with Civil War nurse Clara Barton) was Adolphus Solomons, a Washington D.C. photographer and an Orthodox Jew.
[So, the Red Crescent is allowed so the Muslims won't be offended, and the Red Magen David is not allowed so the Muslims won't be offended.]
ha,ha.
[I'm not aware of any religions affiliated with the International Red Cross]
I believe the Red Crescent is already.
[ The red crescent, along with the Red Lion and Sun of Iran, was enshrined with the red cross in the Geneva conventions of 1929.]
Is the Red Cross really trustworthy? I have read on two occasions that they kept donated monies for their own use and that they have a checkered past being closer to some of America's enemies than to us.
If all the founders had been Jewish Dunant would have spied on them too.
bttt
"If they'd just call it a rastafarian symbol, everything would be fine."
ahahahah - excellent comment
Good graphic work. The concept is just SOOOOO wrong. Would have been happy with the words "Let's Roll" - maybe the Israelis could use that on their vehicles ;) One set of heros could honour another.
I don't consider any of those symbols objectionable, but my PC detector is going off. And I hate PC.
I think we both know that the decision has nothing to do with the threat of new symbol's, and everything to do with the fact that the majority Red Crescent members refuse to recognize the sovereignty of Israel.
Definitely. I have a perverse desire to see it adopted just to piss off the intolerant Muslims.
PC Alert! Save that for DU.
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