ISRAEL JOINS INT'L RED CROSS THROUGH SERVANT'S ENTRANCE

CHRISTIAN COUNTRIES WILL CONTINUE TO USE THE CROSS. MUSLIM COUNTRIES WILL CONTINUE TO USE THE CRESCENT. AND A JEWISH COUNTRY WILL HAVE TO USE .... A DIAMOND?

Red Cross and Red Crescent to Add Red Diamond for Israel Agency
The Red Cross and Red Crescent movements gained an additional emblem on Thursday that will let Israel join the global relief network and end a decades-old dispute. Signers of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, in a rare vote, adopted a new symbol, a diamond-shaped red crystal on a white background, into which the Red Star of David of the Israeli relief agency Magen David Adom can be placed. The vote was 98 in favor and 27 against, with 10 abstentions. For years Islamic states, whose crescent emblem was added to the cross as a joint symbol for the movement in 1983, have resisted recognition of the six-pointed Israeli star. (Reuters/New York Times)