The Palestinian Authority’s Shameful Hypocrisy Toward Tibet and the Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama paid a high-profile four-day visit to Israel last week. The visit received enormous media attention in Israel where he has long been a popular figure. No government officials met with the Dalai Lama out of fear of antagonizing the biggest buyer of Israeli weapons – the Chinese government. The Chinese embassy predictably lodged a formal protest that His Holiness was even allowed into the country.

More disturbing however was the cancellation of the planned visit to Bethlehem in the West Bank. The Dalai Lama had been invited by the Holy Land Trust, the Bethlehem-based Palestinian NGO that hosted the Celebrating Nonviolence conference that Tendor and I attended in December, representing SFT. After a request by the Palestinian Authority (PA), Holy Land Trust withdrew the invitation and a Foreign Ministry spokesman for the PA made a very candid statement including this stunning quote:

“At the request of the Chinese government, we have not received or dealt with him given his separatist ambitions for Tibet.”

Separatist ambitions?! This would be hilarious if it was a satiric Onion article but no… welcome to the desert of the real.

As I just recently spent time with them, I have written a letter to the Holy Land Trust expressing my deep disappointment. I have also posted it on the blog I created for the Celebrating Nonviolence conference. I have not yet received a reply to my letter and I don’t know whether they realize the link at the top of the Holy Land Trust’s website will take anyone to the blog to view the open letter. The letter is my opinion and does not represent the position of Students for a Free Tibet.

Below is a brief excerpt of my letter to the Holy Land Trust:
…

Rather than expressing solidarity with another people living under occupation, the Palestinian Authority has sided with the occupier — the Chinese government — against the Tibetan people. The PA’s citation of the Dalai Lama’s “separatist ambitions for Tibet” is so obviously and egregiously hypocritical that it hardly seems worth noting.

Read the rest of the letter on the Celebrating Nonviolence blog >>>



2 Responsesto “The Palestinian Authority’s Shameful Hypocrisy Toward Tibet and the Dalai Lama”

1. zohar ezra says:

   August 19, 2006 at 1:19 am

   hello,

   as an israelian, i felt ashamed while his holiness’s visit in IL. i’m asure you that this does not represent most of our people in israel but only, how “estoshing” a few hypocrite politicians.

   many people here support your fight for your rights.

   as for me, i’ve just created now a company of revolutional jewelry based on a new tech. one of the designs we are busy to make now is calling for free tibet. anyone who carries this design will be a small walking demonstration and we hope this will bring a positive help to your efforts.

   other jewelry of the topic will come out latter as this subject is very close to my heart.

   i wish you success and hope to stay in touch with you. your site is very intresting and well done!
   in a few weeks my web site and the free tibet jewelry will be ready, then i’ll be honored to send you the link so you can see and judge it by yourself and may be help us with your oppinion for our next steps.

   i’ll be glade to get an email where i can contact you directly.

   with best regards
   zohar
2. mieke says:

   October 18, 2006 at 3:45 pm

   That’s a real shame indeed, but certainly not typical for Israel…

   LINK – But as I have no idea if the article is still online, here is its text, dated October 6, 2006

   Government ministers were grilled in Parliament on Thursday by MPs on why not one of them could find time to meet with the exiled political and spiritual leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama, who was in Finland last weekend.
   Ulla Anttila (Greens) expressed her astonishment during question-time at the fact that no official meetings were arranged, in spite of the fact that Finland, during its time as the EU Presidency, has stressed the issue of human rights.
   Minister of Culture Tanja Saarela (Centre), whose portfolio also includes religious affairs, somewhat surprisingly reported that she had actually arranged to meet with the Dalai Lama. However, she had been prevented from doing so by illness.
   No answer was forthcoming as to why no deputy went to the meeting in Saarela’s stead.

   Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja (SDP) observed that the government had not received any requests for a meeting with the visiting leader. The meetings of individual ministers, he said, were their own business.
   At this, Heidi Hautala, another Green MP, protested that very serious attempts had been made to arrange meetings, and that Finland had bowed to external pressure from China.
   Tuomioja denied that any pressure had been exerted by China, and further noted that even without meeting the Dalai Lama the Finnish authorities had sufficient information on the situation pertaining between China and Tibet.
   Ben Zyskowicz of the opposition National Coalition Party nevertheless provided the minister with guidance that Tibet is “occupied by the oppressive Chinese Communist regime”, and that a meeting with the exiled Tibetan leader would not have been about information, but would have sent a political signal.

   © Helsingin Sanomat

   Finland… :-(