US embassy cable - 05TELAVIV6467

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. 
 
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SWISS AND ICRC OFFICIALS PRESS SOCIETIES TO REACH AGREEMENT 
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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. 
 
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CONCERNS ABOUT SLOW NEGOTIATIONS AND COMMITTED SPOILERS 
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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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JONES