Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05TELAVIV1117
2005-02-24 16:01:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tel Aviv
Cable title:  

MFA OFFICIAL SAYS GOI "ADAMANT" ABOUT GAINING MDA

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C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 001117 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR PRM AND NEA/IPA; GENEVA FOR RMA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/24/2009
TAGS: AORC PHUM PREF PREL IS SZ GOI EXTERNAL ISRAELI SOCIETY
SUBJECT: MFA OFFICIAL SAYS GOI "ADAMANT" ABOUT GAINING MDA
MEMBERSHIP THIS YEAR, BUT FRUSTRATED WITH THE SWISS


Classified By: Pol/C Norman Olsen for Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 001117

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR PRM AND NEA/IPA; GENEVA FOR RMA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/24/2009
TAGS: AORC PHUM PREF PREL IS SZ GOI EXTERNAL ISRAELI SOCIETY
SUBJECT: MFA OFFICIAL SAYS GOI "ADAMANT" ABOUT GAINING MDA
MEMBERSHIP THIS YEAR, BUT FRUSTRATED WITH THE SWISS


Classified By: Pol/C Norman Olsen for Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).


1. (C) The GOI is "adamant" about bringing to closure in 2005
the issue of Magen David Adom (MDA) membership in the
International Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement, MFA Deputy
Director General (A/S-equivalent) for International
Organization Affairs Roni Ya'ar told poloff on February 23.
He reported that he sent to the Israeli embassy in Washington
the day before. at the request of State PRM, the GOI action
plan for pursuing this goal. He did not yet have an
English-language translation of the plan to share with
poloff, but summarized that the basic approach called for
building momentum by focusing initial diplomatic efforts on
governments likely to be sympathetic. Efforts to court
"nay-sayers" could wait until later in the process. The
report, he said, outlined country-specific strategies,
including for the U.S., where the GOI strategy would include
trying to convince NEA to raise MDA with the Swiss
Ambassador. The involvement of NEA would, he suggested,
underline the U.S. view that MDA membership would make an
important contribution to the overall peace process.


2. (C) Ya'ar expressed frustration with the Swiss position on
MDA. Whereas ICRC representatives have spoken of the need
for only a "qualified majority" of Geneva Convention parties
to convene a conference to adopt a Third Additional Protocol
that would open the door for MDA membership, Swiss officials
have told the GOI that Switzerland would not convene a
conference without "consensus" on MDA. "I don't want to
bargain with the Swiss," Ya'ar asserted. Their main
interest, he charged, is using the MDA issue to leverage for
themselves a role in the peace process that "I cannot give
them." He noted suggestions from unspecified corners that
the GOS should link MDA membership to the convening of a
conference on the Fourth Geneva Convention. "I reject this
totally," he said, adding that Calmy-Rey, during her visit to
Israel earlier this month, had told FM Shalom that she knew
that such a linkage was a bad idea.


3. (C) Ya'ar reported that he planned to travel later in the
day to Amman, where he was to meet Dr. Mohammed Al-Hadid, the
President of the Jordanian Red Crescent Society and Chairman
of the Standing Committee of the International Red Cross/Red
Crescent Movement. He characterized Dr. Al-Hadid as a
professional with strong ties to MDA and a supporter of MDA
membership in the International Movement. He was less sure
about the GOJ stand on the MDA membership issue. Consistent
with his strategy of deferring efforts to lobby states less
sympathetic to Israel on the MDA issue, Ya'ar said he would
probably not raise MDA with Jordanian MFA contacts on this
trip.

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