Israel’s right to attend the 60-nation Red Cross conference meeting here to draw up a treaty to protect civilians in atomic warfare was backed by the president of the conference, Swiss Foreign Minister Max Petitpierre, reliable sources said today.
He was replying to five Moslem states–Pakistan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Afghanistan–which protested that Israel was not a sovereign state, and therefore not entitled to send a delegation. They said in a letter to Petitpierre that they would not object to Israel “being represented by observers. Petitpierre’s letter of reply was read to a closed meeting of the conference bureau, on which all committee presidents are represented.
The letter explained that invitations to the conference were sent to states which Bad signed any or all of the Red Cross humanitarian treaties. Petitpierre was understood to have said that Israel fulfilled this principle. This is the first big international conference which Israel has attended on an equal footing with other powers.
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