Delegates to an international conference have accepted a new Red Cross emblem, paving the way for Israel to join the humanitarian movement after nearly six decades of exclusion, officials said yesterday.
The 192 signatories to the 1949 Geneva Conventions approved the new diamond-shaped "red crystal" emblem by a rare vote after last-ditch negotiations between Israel and Syria over Damascus' demands for humanitarian access to Syrian citizens in the Golan Heights broke down.
The Red Star of David of the Israeli relief agency Magen David Adom (MDA) can now be placed inside the new emblem during combat in place of the red cross or Muslim red crescent.
"I can inform you that the protocol has just been adopted," said Didier Pfirter, a Swiss diplomat who has been coordinating global efforts to muster support for the new emblem.
"It has not been possible to adopt the protocol by consensus, but it has been adopted by a clear majority," he said.
Switzerland, the depositary state for the conventions, had been pressing for a consensus, saying it was more in keeping with humanitarian activity.
But it could not overcome differences, particularly between Islamic states and other members, surrounding the running of emergency services in the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 war, along with the occupied territories.
"The most important thing is the result. Tomorrow, nobody will remember the numbers, the votes. Everybody will have the third protocol and more protection," said Noam Yifrach, president of Israel's MDA relief service.
The Swiss called the conference to approve a new protocol to the conventions to include a third emblem alongside the movement's Red Cross and the Red Crescent symbols.
The vote was 98 in favor, 27 against, with 10 abstentions.
"Unfortunately, it is the first time in the history of international human-rights law that an international convention of this importance has been put to a vote. It is a real pity," Syrian ambassador Bashar Jaafari said.
The way to an accord appeared to have been cleared late last month when the MDA and the Palestinian Red Crescent reached a deal making the Palestinians the internationally recognized emergency service within the occupied territories.
Arab states insisted the question of responsibility for the occupied territories had to be resolved before they would consider creating a new emblem custom-made for Israel.
Syria wanted similar treatment for the Golan Heights but diplomats said there was no chance of such a pact being hammered out in Geneva -- not least because Israel does not regard the Golan to be under occupation.
The decision means Israel will now have an emblem that is recognized internationally -- the one condition it could not previously meet for membership of the movement.
But it still needs the movement's various national societies to also approve the step in a conference expected next spring.
PRECISION STRIKES: The most significant reason to deploy HIMARS to outlying islands is to establish a ‘dead zone’ that the PLA would not dare enter, a source said A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) would be deployed to Penghu County and Dongyin Island (東引) in Lienchiang County (Matsu) to force the Chinese military to retreat at least 100km from the coastline, a military source said yesterday. Taiwan has been procuring HIMARS and Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) from the US in batches. Once all batches have been delivered, Taiwan would possess 111 HIMARS units and 504 ATACMS, which have a range of 300km. Considering that “offense is the best defense,” the military plans to forward-deploy the systems to outlying islands such as Penghu and Dongyin so that
WHAT WAS ALL THAT FOR? Jaw Shaw-kong said that Cheng Li-wen had pushed for more drastic cuts and attacked him, just for the outcome to be nearly identical to his bill The legislature yesterday passed a supplementary budget bill to fund the purchase of separate packages of US military equipment, with the combined amount of spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.8 billion). The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their legislative majority to pass the bill, which runs until 2033 and has two main funding provisions. One was for NT$300 billion of arms sales already approved by the US for Taiwan on Dec. 17 last year, the other was for NT$480 billion for another arms package expected to be announced by Washington. The bill, which fell short of the NT$1.25
‘CLEAR MESSAGE’: The bill would set up an interagency ‘tiger team’ to review sanctions tools and other economic options to help deter any Chinese aggression toward Taiwan US Representative Young Kim has introduced a bill to deter Chinese aggression against Taiwan, calling for an interagency “tiger team” to preplan coordinated sanctions and economic measures in response to possible Chinese military or political action against Taiwan. “[Chinese President] Xi Jinping [習近平] has directed the People’s Liberation Army to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. China has a plan. America should have one too,” Kim said in a news release on Thursday last week. She introduced the “Deter PRC [People’s Republic of China] aggression against Taiwan act” to “ensure the US has a coordinated sanctions strategy ready should
A former television news host and six military personnel — active and retired — have been indicted on espionage charges, Kaohsiung prosecutors said yesterday. Lin Chen-you (林宸佑), a former CTi News host and YouTuber, last year allegedly made videos at the direction of a Chinese agent criticizing the Democratic Progressive Party’s recall campaign, the Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office told a news conference in Kaohsiung. He allegedly received 4,325 tether coins for the videos from an unidentified person surnamed Huang (黃), believed to be an agent of a hostile foreign power, they said. Lin, also known as Ma Te (馬德), has a show named
RSS