Palestine Pavilion Dispute Exposes Osaka Expo's Tensions Over Occupation and Cultural Heritage

Missing Exhibits Put Occupation at the Center of the Expo

The Palestine Pavilion's traditional crafts did not arrive at Osaka Expo 2025 until April 24, more than ten days after the event opened to the public. Before their arrival, notices explaining the nearly empty pavilion blamed shipping delays on Israel's military occupation. Expo organizers asked the Palestinian delegation to remove or change those notices, and they were gone by April 9.

The dispute brought questions about occupation, cultural heritage and political expression into a gathering intended to celebrate innovation and a shared human future. A few hundred meters away, Israel displayed a building stone from East Jerusalem that was about 2,000 years old, prompting Palestinian objections over the movement of cultural property from occupied territory.

By August 28, 2025, the controversy had become part of a wider story about what international exhibitions can accommodate when participants bring sharply conflicting accounts of history and present conditions. The Expo's theme, "Designing Future Society for Our Lives," offered an optimistic vision. The Palestinian experience exposed practical and political obstacles to taking part in that vision.

The pavilion eventually received its shellwork, woodwork and traditional embroidery. Palestinian celebrations followed, including speeches, dance and a fashion show. Yet the early absence of those objects, and the removal of the explanation for it, remained central to the dispute.

For visitors, the disagreement involved more than competing messages on pavilion walls. It concerned who could move exhibits, who could explain their absence, and how organizers should respond when one participant challenged another participant's display under international law.

Why the Palestinian Displays Arrived Late

Ambassador Waleed Siam, the Palestinian representative to Japan, said restrictions on the use of ports and airports prevented Palestinian organizers from shipping their exhibits directly. The shipment instead had to pass through Israel.

According to Siam, sea freight was denied, forcing the organizers to switch to air freight. That change caused further delays. The result was a pavilion that was almost entirely empty as the Expo prepared to welcome the public in April.

The missing exhibits were objects intended to introduce visitors to Palestinian culture: shellwork, woodwork and traditional embroidery. Their absence left the delegation trying to explain why the cultural display it had planned was not ready.

Notices appeared around April 6 attributing the delays to Israel's military occupation. They served as practical explanations for visitors while also identifying the political conditions that Palestinian organizers said had disrupted the shipment.

The main dates show how the dispute unfolded:

• Around April 6, notices appeared explaining that the exhibits had been delayed because of Israel's military occupation.
• By April 9, the notices had been removed after the Expo Association asked the Palestinian delegation to remove or alter them.
• In April, the Expo opened to the public with the Palestine Pavilion still nearly empty.
• On April 24, the shellwork, woodwork and traditional embroidery arrived, more than ten days after the Expo began.

The shipping problem gave occupation a concrete meaning inside the exhibition. Palestinian organizers described restrictions that affected whether their cultural objects could reach Japan and when visitors could see them.

Organizers Sought Changes to the Notices

The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition's International Relations Bureau asked the Palestinian delegation to remove or alter the signs, according to internal communications obtained by Japanese media.

The bureau gave the "safe and smooth running of the Expo" as the reason for its request. The notices disappeared just days before the public opening, turning an explanation about missing exhibits into a dispute over what participants could say.

The removal prompted criticism over censorship and the limits of neutrality. Palestinian representatives were seeking to explain an obstacle they attributed to occupation, while organizers treated the wording as an issue affecting the operation of the event. The internal communications described an operational concern; no fuller explanation of the specific risk posed by the notices was given.

The controversy also exposed a difficult balance for the Expo Association. It intervened over the Palestinian notices while maintaining that participating countries were responsible for choosing and installing their own exhibits. Those positions became particularly contentious when Palestinian officials challenged an object in Israel's pavilion.

Different Rules, Competing National Messages

World Expos showcase technology and culture, but participating countries also use them to present national stories and build goodwill. This is often called soft power: influence gained through culture, ideas and public appeal.

Unlike the Olympic Games, which have strict provisions on political neutrality, World Expos have no explicit requirement for political neutrality. Pavilions can therefore become settings for national narratives and political disagreements as well as scientific and cultural exchange.

The Straits Times and The Japan News described an Osaka Expo taking place against global conflict, trade wars and diplomatic tension. Russia withdrew amid diplomatic fallout over its invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine's pavilion asserted its sovereignty with a sign reading "Not for sale." Taiwan participated under the name of a private company to avoid political controversy with China.

Organizers hoped the event would encourage unity and multilateralism, meaning cooperation among countries. The ways countries participated, or chose not to participate, showed how international disputes shaped the exhibition itself.

An expert on Middle Eastern politics described the Expo as "a mirror of the times." The phrase captured the gap between a gathering devoted to a better future and the divisions brought into it by its participants.

An Ancient Stone Becomes a Modern Dispute

The Israel Pavilion displayed a building stone believed to date from the Hasmonean period, about 2,000 years ago. It came from East Jerusalem, a city at the center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and was presented as a symbol of Israeli resilience and renewal.

Palestinian officials, including Siam, objected to its removal from occupied territory. They cited the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its prohibition on exporting cultural property from occupied areas.

Cultural property means objects or places valued for their historical, artistic or cultural importance. The Palestinian objection concerned the movement of such an object out of occupied territory and its display abroad.

The Palestinian side submitted formal protests to the Japanese government and the Expo Association, arguing that the Israeli exhibit contravened international law. The dispute therefore concerned both the stone's historical meaning and the circumstances under which it had reached Osaka.

The Expo Association said each participating country was responsible for installing its exhibits and that the association had no involvement in selecting or transporting artifacts. Its response left responsibility for the objects with the national delegations rather than placing the association in the role of deciding their competing historical claims.

Israel Defended the Display as Heritage

Israeli Ambassador to Japan Gilad Cohen rejected the Palestinian criticism and stressed the historical connection between the Jewish people and Jerusalem. He presented the stone as evidence of Israel's ancient heritage.

Cohen said people who doubted Israel's historical rights should "read the Bible for evidence of this connection." His argument placed the object within a broader account of Jewish history and belonging in Jerusalem.

The Israeli pavilion also displayed a menorah that was about 1,700 years old and highlighted the country's technological innovations. Together, the ancient objects and modern technology presented a narrative linking historical roots with contemporary achievement.

Palestinian officials approached the stone through the rules governing cultural property under occupation. Cohen approached it through historical connection. The same object consequently carried very different meanings for the two delegations: a disputed removal for one and an expression of heritage for the other.

The proximity of the pavilions made those competing accounts visible within a short distance. Palestinian representatives were explaining why their own objects had been delayed while contesting the presence of an ancient object in Israel's display.

Palestinian Culture Takes Its Place

The Palestine Pavilion eventually welcomed visitors with its traditional crafts and cultural artifacts. On Palestine National Day, Palestinian and Japanese officials attended events that included the raising of both flags, speeches and a performance of Dabke by a Palestinian folklore group.

Minister of Economy Mohammad Al-Amour and Ambassador Siam were among the officials present. A fashion show featuring traditional Palestinian costumes also brought the artistry of Palestinian clothing into the pavilion's program.

Siam used his remarks to connect the celebration with conditions under Israeli military occupation. He referred to famine in Gaza, forced displacement and the destruction of refugee camps, while presenting participation in the Expo as an expression of endurance and hope.

Siam, speaking as the Palestinian representative to Japan, described the message he wanted the pavilion's presence to convey:

Amid these hardships, our presence at Expo Osaka 2025 sends a clear message: Palestinians teach life, value life, and remain resilient and optimistic, believing that freedom for Palestine is inevitable.

Visitors wearing Palestinian flags and traditional scarves expressed solidarity. The pavilion became a place for cultural presentation and public support for the Palestinian cause, even after the early dispute over the missing exhibits had passed.

Gaza's Humanitarian Crisis Framed the Debate

Gaza's worsening humanitarian emergency gave the arguments in Osaka an immediate human context. United Nations assessments and other reporting described the territory as being on the verge of "generalized famine" after nearly two years of war.

More than 87 percent of Gaza was under evacuation orders or designated as an Israeli military zone. Millions of Palestinians depended on humanitarian aid and lived with the threat of airstrikes. Repeated displacement made it difficult for families to find a place where they could remain.

Displaced residents described daily life as a "nightmare," marked by food shortages, fear of further military operations and the exhaustion of moving again and again. Their experiences gave concrete meaning to the displacement discussed in diplomatic speeches.

Amal Hamada, a woman aged 20 from Gaza, described that exhaustion in comments to AFP:

We've lived through many wars before, but nothing like this one. This war is long and exhausting, from one displacement to another. We are worn out.

Saudi Arabia and other regional actors condemned the humanitarian catastrophe. They called for immediate international intervention to end the famine and hold Israel accountable for its actions.

The crisis connected the pavilion's statements about occupation with questions of food, shelter and survival. For Palestinians taking part in Osaka, cultural representation was occurring while people in Gaza faced worsening conditions and repeated loss of refuge.

A Future Facing Exhibition in a Divided World

Osaka Expo 2025 faced operational problems beyond the pavilion controversy. Supply chain disruptions, labor shortages and cost overruns complicated preparations. Several countries failed to finish their pavilions on time, and ticket sales lagged behind expectations.

The event nevertheless brought millions of visitors into contact with ambitious technological displays and cultural programs. Attractions included artificial hearts grown from stem cells, flying vehicles resembling drones and the Grand Ring, the world's largest wooden structure.

Those exhibits offered visitors a chance to imagine changes in medicine, transport and construction. For many, the Expo also provided a break from the conflicts and uncertainty outside its grounds.

A Japanese visitor described why an international gathering could still matter during such a troubled period:

I think the Expo is meaningful in this chaotic time. People will think about peace after visiting the venue.

The Palestine and Israel pavilion disputes showed how difficult it was to separate that hope from existing conflicts. An explanation for delayed crafts, an ancient stone and the wording of a notice each became part of a wider argument about occupation, history and representation.

The Expo Association's responses also revealed the limits of its role. It sought changes to language that it considered relevant to the event's operation, while leaving the selection and transport of artifacts to participants. The resulting controversy placed its approach to managing the exhibition under scrutiny.

Palestine's eventual cultural program ensured that visitors could see the crafts and performances its delegation had brought to Japan. The earlier empty spaces and removed notices remained part of the story, alongside a humanitarian crisis that continued far beyond the exhibition grounds.

Key Points

• Notices blaming Israeli occupation for delayed Palestinian exhibits appeared around April 6 and were removed by April 9 after an Expo request.
• Ambassador Waleed Siam said restrictions forced the shipment through Israel and a switch from sea freight to air freight.
• Palestinian shellwork, woodwork and embroidery arrived on April 24, more than ten days after the Expo began.
• Palestinian officials protested Israel's display of a stone from East Jerusalem that was about 2,000 years old, citing protections for cultural property.
• Ambassador Gilad Cohen defended the display through the Jewish historical connection to Jerusalem.
• The Expo Association said participating countries were responsible for selecting, transporting and installing their exhibits.
• Palestine National Day featured officials, flags, Dabke and traditional costumes while Gaza faced a worsening humanitarian emergency.
• The dispute exposed tensions between the Expo's ambitions for international cooperation and the conflicts represented within its pavilions.