Israeli and Palestinian relief groups join Red Cross

GENEVA - The Red Cross and Red Crescent humanitarian movement has accorded membership to the Israeli and Palestinian relief organisations, ending nearly 60 years of struggle over the Israeli agency's accession.

Joining the international relief network should lead to cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian emergency services and improve access to conflict victims, said conference chairman Mohammed Al Hadid, who heads Jordan's Red Crescent Society.

"We have at last won a battle that had been fought for a very long time," Al Hadid told reporters after the decision, reached after two days of talks.

Israel said the move was long overdue.

"Israel welcomes the decision ... to accept Magen David Adom as a full member. In doing so, the International Red Cross has helped to right a historic injustice that has been in existence for the last 57 years," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said in Jerusalem.

"Unfortunately, Israeli diplomats were forced to overcome opposition from Arab governemnts to this move but succeeded in doing so through diplomatic efforts," he said.

Noam Yifrach, Magen David Adom's chairman, said the backing of the world's largest relief network would make it easier for emergency workers to co-operate across checkpoints, and ensure assistance reaches those who need it.

"It will help us to function together with the Palestinian Red Crescent society ... Until today, we did not have the movement behind us," he said.

The Palestine Red Crescent, which won entry despite not being linked to a sovereign state, had no immediate comment.

The Geneva Conventions' 192 signatory states and 183 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies decided in a rare vote to approve a new red crystal emblem for use by the Jewish state's MDA, which had resisted using the cross and crescent because of their links to Christianity and Islam.

The neutral, diamond-shaped symbol is also meant to provide additional protection to war victims and humanitarian victims in conflict situations where the red cross or crescent carried unwelcome religious overtones.

Al Hadid urged governments worldwide to acknowledge the red crystal with equal reverence as the agency's older logos, which are based on the Swiss flag and the Turkish flag.

Despite legal and procedural complaints from representatives of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the resolution passed with more than the required two-thirds majority.

Some 237 states and societies voted to change the agency's statutes and add the red crystal symbol, 54 voted against, and 18 abstained, officials said. The Israeli and Palestinian groups were then admitted to the network by acclamation.

The American Red Cross said it would repay US$45 ($73.51) million in dues withheld from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies over the MDA's exclusion.

- REUTERS