Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05TELAVIV6467
2005-11-14 11:59:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tel Aviv
Cable title:  

EMBLEM: ICRC DESCRIBES TIMELINE, PROGRESS IN

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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 006467 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/IPA AND EUR/AGS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/14/2015
TAGS: IS KPAL PGOV PREF PREL SZ GOI EXTERNAL ISRAELI SOCIETY
SUBJECT: EMBLEM: ICRC DESCRIBES TIMELINE, PROGRESS IN
MDA-PRCS NEGOTIATIONS

REF: JERUSALEM 05069

Classified By: Ambassador Richard Jones for reasons 1.4 (b,d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 006467

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/IPA AND EUR/AGS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/14/2015
TAGS: IS KPAL PGOV PREF PREL SZ GOI EXTERNAL ISRAELI SOCIETY
SUBJECT: EMBLEM: ICRC DESCRIBES TIMELINE, PROGRESS IN
MDA-PRCS NEGOTIATIONS

REF: JERUSALEM 05069

Classified By: Ambassador Richard Jones for reasons 1.4 (b,d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: During November 8 - 10 conversations with
Poloffs, ICRC Head of Delegation Dominik Stillhart and Swiss
Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) Andrej Motyl expressed
continuing ICRC and Swiss commitment to convening the
December 5 - 6 conference on the Third Protocol, but also
articulated concern about the slow progress of meetings
between the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and Magen
David Adom (MDA),and about the increasingly organized
opposition of the Organization of the Islamic Conference
(OIC). END SUMMARY.

-------------- --------------
SWISS AND ICRC OFFICIALS PRESS SOCIETIES TO REACH AGREEMENT
-------------- --------------


2. (C) ICRC Head of Delegation Dominik Stillhart told
Poloffs that the Swiss government is pressing PRCS and MDA
officials to try to achieve significant progress toward a
framework agreement by November 16, when MDA Chairman Noam
Yifrach and PRCS President Younis Al Khatib will return from
the regularly scheduled ICRC meetings they are currently
attending in Seoul. Stillhart said that Swiss government
officials convened technical meetings November 8 - 9 in
Israel among working level PRCS-MDA officials to produce a
joint letter to send to Yifrach and Younis in Seoul. Yifrach
and Younis will then have a chance to meet in person at the
conference, Stillhart said, where they will use the agreed
letter as a basis for discussions that will address more
contentious questions of principle.


3. (C) Stillhart said the ICRC and the Swiss would like the
Younis-Yifrach discussions in Seoul to conclude with a draft
framework agreement, which they can then present to their
respective governments upon their return. Even if the
framework agreement does not resolve every controversial
issue before the conference begins, Stillhart explained, he
believes it can contribute to a successful conference if it
signals the societies' clear intent to work together
constructively in the future.

-------------- --------------
CONCERNS ABOUT SLOW NEGOTIATIONS AND COMMITTED SPOILERS
-------------- --------------


4. (C) Stillhart also said that "the two societies must
reach agreement before the conference," or, Swiss and ICRC
officials fear, Arab and Muslim countries will vote against
the Third Protocol. Stillhart described positive progress at
the PRCS-MDA meetings November 8, but expressed concern about
the meetings November 9 when the participants failed to
produce agreed text for the letter that Swiss officials
planned to send to Seoul on the same day. Stillhart said the
participants could not agree because MDA officials reversed
their promise of the previous day to lobby the GOI to
facilitate the movement of PRCS ambulances in the West Bank
and East Jerusalem.


5. (C) In addition, Stillhart said, conference opponents
such as Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser Al-Kidwa continue
to lobby undecided governments to vote against the Third
Protocol. Stillhart reported that in Geneva November 9 Swiss
Ambassador at Large for the Emblems of the Geneva Conventions
Didier Pfirter learned from OIC representatives that they may
request, as the first matter of business when the conference
opens December 5, that the conference be immediately
suspended pending a December 6 OIC meeting in Jeddah.
Participants at the OIC meeting December 6 would then have an
opportunity to reconfirm their commitment to the Sanaa
statement opposing the timing of the conference.


6. (C) Swiss DCM Motyl told the DCM November 8 that the
Swiss government does not want a "partial resolution" of the
problem, in which MDA will be accepted into the movement
without the consent of the Muslim world. "If we foresee a
clash of civilizations scenario," he said, "we will call off
the conference. We are not willing to sacrifice the
movement's good atmosphere." While expressing these
concerns, both Motyl and Stillhart stressed that the Swiss
government and the ICRC remain committed to holding the
conference. "The Swiss don't want to be seen as the ones
hesitating," Stillhart said.

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