Beer Sheva, 17 February 2006 (By Anat Bershkovsky, ynetnews.com) - During a visit to Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheva Thursday the Dalai Lama said 'everyone wants peace but no one speaks about how to reach it.' 'A smile is a sign of human internal warmth, regardless of religious, racial or gender difference,' he said. 'The world needs to be free of nuclear and chemical weapons. All religions have the same expression and the same language of peace, compassion, and respect for the other.'
The main hall in the university had been full two hours ahead of the Dalai Lama's arrival. Prof Avishay Braverman, until recently the university's president, who invited the Dalai Lama to Israel, accompanied the exiled Tibetan leader on stage.
'I read all your books, but I am a very bad student. I hope your presence will bring more harmony and willingness to listen to our region and the whole world,' Braverman said.
The Dalai Lama said he was so excited to come to Israel that he was unable to sleep on the flight from India to Tel Aviv. A phone ring interrupted his speech. He looked at the woman whose phone was ringing and said: 'You prefer to listen to music than hear me speak.' The woman was Prof Braverman's wife.
The Dalai Lama, who's on a 5-day-visit to Israel, was appointed Tibet's leader in 1950 when China invaded its smaller neighbor. In 1959 he fled top India where he has been on exile ever since. He dedicates his life to promoting democracy in Tibet and preserving Tibetan culture. He received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1989.
