Israel is set to join the Red Cross after nearly six decades [View All]

Israel is set to join the Red Cross movement after nearly six decades of exclusion, despite attempts by Muslim countries to derail a complex diplomatic initiative based on the creation of a new emblem.

The two-day International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, opening Tuesday, is being asked to approve changes to meet Israeli demands that it be granted full status without using the cross or crescent to identify
itself.

At the center of the plan is a neutral emblem - a blank square standing on one corner - that could frame the red Star of David of the Israeli rescue society Magen David Adom.

The emblem - dubbed the "red crystal" - was approved over Muslim objections in a hard-fought diplomatic conference last December.


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