US embassy cable - 05TELAVIV1117

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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