UPDATE ON MDA EFFORTS TO CHANGE ITS STATUTES AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 001685

SIPDIS

AMMAN FOR REFCOORD; DEPARTMENT FOR PRM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/28/2011
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KPAL IS ICRC GOI INTERNAL
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON MDA EFFORTS TO CHANGE ITS STATUTES AND
IMPLEMENT ITS MOU WITH THE PRCS

REF: A. TEL AVIV 1619

B. GENEVA 986

Classified By: Political Counselor Norman H. Olsen. Reason 1.4 (B/D)


1. (C) Summary: Following Foreign Minister/Justice Minister
Tzipi Livni's engagement April 23 on Magen David Adom (MDA)
accession to the Red Cross Movement (ref A),the GOI and MDA
reportedly have made some progress toward amending MDA
statutes, as required by the IFRC-ICRC joint statutes
committee. Brinkmanship played a role during negotiations
between MDA and the concerned Government of Israel (GOI)
ministries of Health, Justice, Finance and Foreign Affairs --
including an episode when MDA reportedly threatened to
withdraw its application to join the Movement rather than
accept the role the GOI demanded for itself. The IFRC local
representative has played a positive role in calming
tensions, and the IFRC representative is confident that MDA
and the GOI will reach a compromise acceptable to the Red
Cross Movement officials. It is not certain, however, that
the compromise will satisfy the Red Cross national societies.
On May 1, Swiss Ambassador-At-Large Didier Pfirter will be
visiting Israel to monitor MDA progress on implementing the
MDA-Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU). End Summary.

-------------- --
Amending the MDA Statutes: Closer to Consensus
-------------- --


2. (C) MDA President Noam Yifrach told deputy polcouns April
27 that MDA volunteers, who currently dominate the MDA
national council, have agreed to support the GOI proposal
regarding nomination of the MDA President (ref A). The only
remaining point of disagreement concerns the GOI demand to
introduce a three-person "review committee" to determine the
suitability of candidates for the new 13-member MDA executive
board, a majority of whose members will now be drawn from MDA
volunteers. Yifrach reports that MDA volunteers have agreed
to accept the imposition of a review committee comprising one
government representative, one MDA representative and one
public sector representative, but MDA opposes the GOI's plan
to place a government employee at the helm of this committee.
Yifrach claimed that a GOI-controlled review committee would
be subject to scrutiny by other national societies in June:
"The Arabs won't be the problem. No one will vote for us."


3. (C) MDA and GOI ministries have engaged in reciprocal
brinkmanship during the tug of war over amending MDA
statutes. At one point, on April 25, Yifrach reportedly
threatened to withdraw MDA's application to join the Red
Cross Movement rather than agree to the GOI proposal, but the
MFA claims that they brought him back from the brink. As of
April 27, both MDA and the Ministry of Health have compromise
proposals at the ready, and negotiations should resume after
the weekend over this final sticking point.

--------------
Implementing the MDA-PRCS MOU: Some Progress
--------------


4. (C) MFA Director of International Organizations Daniel
Meron updated poloff April 26 on progress on implementation
of the MOU between MDA and PRCS. IFRC's Anna Segall April 28
provided information to poloff that confirmed Meron's
reports. They report the following progress:

-- MDA and PRCS met on April 25. MDA officials showed PRCS
officials the Hebrew signs that the GOI will post at
checkpoints and Allenby Bridge, which declare that PRCS
ambulances must receive priority clearance and should skip to
the head of the line.

-- Meron said that the GOI approved six ambulances and 23
paramedics to receive priority clearance through checkpoints
into East Jerusalem. Meron also said that the head of the
Israeli Civil Administration for the Occupied Territories
(COGATT),General Mishlev, gave this guidance to soldiers
manning the crossings. Segall confirmed that she had also
heard this information from MDA officials.

-- Meron and Segall both said that the GOI has approved two
ambulances to be stationed at the maternity hospital in East
Jerusalem. Segall claimed that delays in stationing the two
ambulances in East Jerusalem stem mainly from a conflict
between PRCS and the maternity hospital where they are
supposed to be stationed; she noted that the GOI is not/not
the main obstacle at this point.


5. (C) Segall said, however, that she anticipated that until
the new Israeli government is formed, the GOI will not allow
the five additional ambulances that PRCS asked to station in
East Jerusalem, and the GOI may not allow them even after a
new government is formed.

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