Not sure one can use that against China as an excuse for what Israel is doing in Palestine. Palestine was never awarded to modern Israel in 1948, it is an independent territory in which the State of Israel has no legal rights. Tibet's status is not so clear-cut. For the last 350 years, it has been subordinate to the Chinese Empire and therefore part of China's legally-recognised territory. Israel's occupation has accordingly been condemned by successive UN resolutions. There is no such resolution calling on China to vacate Tibet, because it cannot be argued that it is occupying its own legally-held territory. There is one similarity between the two oppressed territories. As the Irish UN rep put it: 'How many benches would be empty here in this hall if it had always been agreed that when a small nation or a small people fell into the grip of a major Power, no one could ever raise their case here; that once they were a subject nation, they must always remain a subject nation?'