Palestinians versus Tibetans - a double standard

[ProgressiveMuslim]

By Gideon Levy

Tags: Israel

Israelis have no moral right to fight the Chinese occupation of Tibet. The president of the Israeli Friends of the Tibetan People, the psychologist Nahi Alon, who was involved in the murder of two Palestinians in Gaza in 1967 - as was revealed in Haaretz Magazine last weekend - chose to make his private "atonement" by fighting to free Tibet, of all places. He is not alone among Israelis calling to stop the occupation - but not ours. No small number of other good Israelis have recently joined the wave of global protest that broke out over the Olympics, set to take place in Beijing this summer. It is easy; it engenders no controversy - who would not be in favor of liberating Tibet? But that is not the fight that Israeli human rights supporters should be waging.

To fight for Tibet, Israel needs no courage, because there is no price to pay. On the contrary, this is part of a fashionable global trend, almost as much as the fight against global warming or the poaching of sea lions.

These fights are just, and must be undertaken. But in Israel they are deluxe fights, which are unthinkable. When one comes to the fight with hands that are collectively, and sometimes individually, so unclean, it is impossible to protest a Chinese occupation.
Advertisement

Citizens of a country that maintains a military subjugation in its backyard that is no less cruel than that of the Chinese, and by some parameters even more so, and against which there is practically no more protest here, have no justification in denouncing another occupation. Citizens of a country that is entirely tainted by the occupation - a national, ongoing project that involves all sectors of the population to some extent, directly or indirectly - cannot wash their hands and fight another occupation, when a half-hour from their homes, horrors no less terrible are taking place for which they have much greater responsibility.

The world has fallen in love with Tibet. How easy it is to do so. The picturesque figure of the Dalai Lama and the non-violent struggle he leads with his scarlet-robed monks is truly captivating. Indeed, the world has smothered the leader with awards and recognition, from the Nobel Peace Prize to an honorary doctorate at Ben-Gurion University.

The Palestinians are not as nice as the Tibetans in the eyes of the world. But the Palestinian people deserve exactly the same rights as the occupied Tibetan people, even if their leaders are less enchanting, they have no scarlet robes and their fight is more violent. There is absolutely no connection between rights and the means of protest, and from that perspective, there is no difference between a Tibetan and a Palestinian - they both deserve the exact same freedom.

Moreover, in the first years of the Israeli occupation, most Palestinians accepted it submissively, with practically no violence. What did they get as a result? Nothing. The world and Israel cloaked themselves in apathy and callousness. Only when planes started being hijacked in the 1970s did the world begin to notice that a Palestinian problem even existed. In contrast, the Tibetan struggle also was tainted with violence in the past, and it is reasonable to assume that violence will increase if the Tibetans do not attain their goal.

There is also no point in asking which occupation is crueler, the Chinese or the Israeli. The competition is harsh and bitter. The Chinese killed and imprisoned more Tibetans, in Lhasa there is less freedom of expression than in Nablus, but in general, the extent of Israeli repression in the territories is much greater today than Chinese repression in Tibet.

Nowhere in the world today is there a region more besieged and confined than Gaza. And what is the result? The world calls to boycott the occupier in the case of China, while absurdly, with regard to the Palestinians, the world is boycotting the occupied entity, or at least its elected leadership, and not the occupier. This, it seems, has no parallel in history.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/974170.html

[SteinbachMB]

1. Sure

they do. They have every right to stand for a just cause. Just like they stand for its right to exist.

[bemildred]

2. A varied lot of people seem to make this comparison.

Sort of like South Africa & apartheid, it just pops up all over.

[Jim Sagle]

3. Gideon Levy is a notorious self-hating loony.

[bluerum]

4. Is this guy jealous or what? Here is an idea - go take some Tibetan hostages at the Olympics!

[stahbrett]

5. not similar - did Tibetans attempt to destroy China?

Didn't think so...

[republicanheart]

6. WWDLD.

What would Dalai Lama do?

I'm sure that the Dalai Lama will have the Monks strap on bombs and attach public places and kill people at random. Although, I'm a Christian, I have high respect for the outlook and attitude of Tibetans and the Dalai Lama.

[bemildred]

7. Tibetan monks held for 'bomb plot'

Nine Tibetan Buddhist monks have been arrested for involvement in an alleged bomb attack on a government building in China's Tibetan region, the official Xinhua News Agency says.

The monks from the Tongxia monastery fled after the homemade bomb exploded at the building in Gyanbe township on March 23, and later confessed to planting the explosive, Xinhua said late on Saturday.

Arrests confirmed

Xinhua did not explain why the alleged incident was not reported earlier, and it did mention any casualties or damage in the explosion.

A man who answered the phone at the Gongjue county "public security bureau" confirmed that nine suspects had been detained.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E6E38F25-AD42-422C-AC01-A10784BFC225.htm

[Vegasaurus]

8. To compare any sort of Tibetan violence

to that of the Palestinian militants is absolutely laughable.

The Tibetans are a peaceloving people, who don't believe in strapping on bombs and blowing up themselves, or innocent people.

This is an anomaly, whereas Palestinian militancy and terrorism is a daily occurance.

[idontwantaname]

9. militancy and terrorism

if its militancy and terrorism youre concerned about, you should know israeli army operations is in the west bank and gaza are at least 10 fold what palestinian resistance yields

whens the last time you read about a palestinian terror unit sneaking into an israeli persons house at night, taking their family hostage, then setting up sniper positions, finally killing a person or three and leaving in the smoke of tear gas? this sort of nonsense happens weekly in the OTs.

[Jim Sagle]

10. The OTs aren't occupied anymore.

[idontwantaname]

11. just because its written doesnt make it so.

and if anyone with backbone actually spent time in the OTs, theyd know the whole truth of the horrors the israeli army embeds in the society.

[Jim Sagle]

12. Just because you write the opposite doesn't make it NOT so.

Except on Opposite Day.

[idontwantaname]

13. sure

ill make sure to ask the 4 year old next door when opposite day is.

[Jim Sagle]

14. In this folder, it's every day.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

15. You think violent resistance is more evil than the occupation itself?

[Dick Dastardly]

16. In the case of the Palestinians

When the occupation is due to the occupier being there due to being attacked and winning, not to mention when resistance includes suicide bombing pizza parlors and shootin missiles at civilian targets then yes.