
The approval of a new emblem allowing Israelis to join the Red Cross movement was held up Tuesday by
Syria's demand that Israel allow its humanitarian workers into the Golan Heights.
The move could delay until at least Wednesday a decision by the 192 signatories of the Geneva Conventions on a "Red crystal" Emblem that Israeli paramedics could use in place
of the red cross or Muslim red crescent.
Israel's Magen David Adom - or Red Shield of David - and the Palestine Red Crescent struck a mutual recognition deal last week allowing each other's paramedics to operate unmolested. Now Syria wants a similar arrangement allowing the Syrian Red Crescent to help an estimated 30,000 former Syrians living
in the Israeli Golan Heights.
"We want to get a similar Israeli commitment to us similar to what they did with the Palestinians," Syrian
Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari said during a break in a conference aimed at bringing Israel into the Red Cross after nearly six decades of exclusion.
Islamic support
Syria claimed it had the support of the 56-member Organization of the Islamic Conference. And a Slovenian representative said Tuesday that Iran had told the conference that it would vote against adopting an additional emblem for the sake of Israel.
Holdouts could spoil hopes for unanimous acceptance of the new emblem. A two-thirds majority vote was theoretically possible but delegates said it was undesirable.
"On a humanitarian issue, there should be consensus,"
said Mohammad Abu-Koash, Palestinian ambassador to international organizations in Geneva. "Once people start voting on this, it would make for ugly scenes."
Israel's society requested the recognition of its red Star of David, but was voted down in 1949 and Arab countries have since blocked attempts to find an alternative emblem.