Back Thursday, June 22, 2006 — The American Red Cross welcomes and celebrates the membership of Magen David Adom (MDA) and the Palestine Red Crescent Society to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The inclusion of these two National Societies is a significant step towards universality for the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. For MDA, admission is long overdue. Since Israel gained Statehood in 1948, the American Red Cross has fought for international recognition of MDA as Israel’s equivalent to the Red Cross. To underscore this commitment and encourage action on this issue, the American Red Cross has withheld $45 million in dues since May 2000 to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. "We are extremely pleased that a wrong has been made right and that MDA is now an equal partner with the 184 other National Societies that comprise the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement," said Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, American Red Cross Chairman. "MDA is a world-class emergency response organization and has a great deal of expertise to offer other National Societies and the world during critical times of need." For more than 50 years, the American Red Cross Board of Governors had considered admission of MDA to the Movement a policy priority. MDA had been denied access to the Movement because they used the Red Star of David, which is not explicitly referenced in the Geneva Conventions. In December 2005, a Diplomatic Conference adopted the Third Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions. The Third Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions enables MDA to continue to use the Red Shield of David when operating in Israel and, when operating outside of Israel, to use the Red Shield of David inside the newly adopted Red Crystal emblem. The success of the Diplomatic Conference was due in large part to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and Agreement on Operational Arrangements between MDA and the Palestine Red Crescent Society in which both Societies committed to take concrete steps to improve humanitarian conditions in these areas. The MOU also paved the way for the membership of both societies in the Movement. As a result of these agreements, Palestinians now receive urgently needed medical and humanitarian services more quickly. "In righting this injustice, the American Red Cross is grateful for the courage, resolve and support of the Governments of the United States and Switzerland, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, our sister Red Cross and Red Crescent societies around the world, and the many organizations and Members of Congress who have been steadfast in their support for MDA’s admission," said McElveen-Hunter. MDA is a critical tracing partner to the American Red Cross Holocaust and War Victims Tracing Center. A resource of hope, the Center has responded to 40,000 requests worldwide for information on the fate of those affected by the Holocaust and, in 1,200 miraculous cases, has reconnected loved ones. For further information on the Center, go to http://www.redcross.org/services/intl/holotrace/index.html. For More Information: For more information on this topic, please visit http://www.redcross.org/mda/. To learn more about international services available locally through the American Red Cross St. Louis Area Chapter, please call 314.516.2737 or log on to www.redcrossstl.org. ---------------------------------------------------------- About the American National Red Cross: The American Red Cross has helped people mobilize to help their neighbors for 125 years. Last year, victims of a record 72,883 disasters, most of them fires, turned to the nearly 1 million volunteers and 35,000 employees of the Red Cross for help and hope. Through more than 800 locally supported chapters, more than 15 million people each year gain the skills they need to prepare for and respond to emergencies in their homes, communities and world. Almost 4 million people give blood—the gift of life—through the Red Cross, making it the largest supplier of blood and blood products in the United States. The Red Cross helps thousands of U.S. service members separated from their families by military duty stay connected. As part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, a global network of more than 180 national societies, the Red Cross helps restore hope and dignity to the world's most vulnerable people. The Red Cross is not a government agency; it relies on donations of time, money, and blood to do its work. About the American Red Cross St. Louis Area Chapter: Founded in 1917, the American Red Cross St. Louis Area Chapter provides emergency and preparedness assistance more than 407,000 times each year. The Red Cross depends on the efforts of thousands of volunteers and 100 staff to provide a wide range of community support services, including disaster relief, first aid and CPR training, water safety, services to military personnel and support for blood services. The Chapter is a United Way agency and provides programs and services to St. Louis City, St. Louis County, St. Charles County and Jefferson County in Missouri, as well as Monroe, St. Clair (including Scott Air Force Base) and part of Madison County in Illinois. # # #

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