If they want boycott Israelis extremists or Palestinian extremists they
should support Wikimania in Haifa.
Wikimania is about free knowledge and free knowledge will make more free
Palestinians and Israelis as well as all of us.
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2011 01:42:26 -0400
> From: dror1975(a)icqmail.com
> Subject: Re: [Wikimania-l] Boycott Wikimania 2011
> To: wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> Message-ID: <8CDBE46B7379139-14D0-1DCC4(a)Webmail-d112.sysops.aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
>
> Just to give you some background on the issue - There is currently an
> aggressive campaign by certain pro-Palestinian groups to boycott Israel. The
> campaigners are well organized and they will probably continue to send
> messages to this mailing list. The campaign is political, however it is not
> supported by any government, nor is it supported by the Palestinian
> Authority or any of the moderate Palestinian organizations. After about four
> years of growing cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians (despite the
> remaining disagreements, which are hard to resolve), there are people and
> organizations who try to pour fuel on the extinguishing fire. Unfortunately,
> they do not respect this forum and its participants.
>
> I would also like to note that when Alexandria was rightfully chosen to
> host Wikimania (and its team did a wonderful work), there were Israelis
> among the bid team and the sponsors. The question of the Arab-Israeli
> conflict was never raised and it was deemed totally irrelevant. When
> Wikimania was held in Taiwan, I personally called the Taiwanese
> representations in Tel Aviv and Amman to check if they can issue a visa to
> an Egyptian citizen who wanted to participate and had difficulties as there
> was no Taiwanese representation in Egypt.
>
> I hope this is the last message in this subject.
>
> Dror K
>
>
I didn't mean to tell this story, but I feel I have to. Two days before I went to Wikimania 2008 I heard on the news about a warning on behalf of the Israeli authorities for Israeli citizens not to visit Egypt due to risk of kidnapping and attacks. I looked up the number of this government office and told them there was an important international conference in Alexandria and urged them to publish more details about how Israelis can get there safely. It was obvious that this government office didn't know about Wikimania. They told me that there were specific alerts, but going by plane, rather than by land, would be safe. I also called the Israeli embassy in Cairo. They told me things were not as bad as they might have sounded in the news, but recommended going by plane from Tel Aviv to Cairo. I spread the news among local Wikimedians. Those who planned to go, told me they would go by land anyway and so we crossed the border two days later. All went perfectly fine and we felt safe. While in Alexandria I received a phone call from the Israeli radio asking to interview me about my experience. I was interviewed twice - to the Hebrew and Arabic departments.
I honestly don't expect anyone to do things which might involve risk of any kind - if someone think that visiting Israel might be harmful for him/her due to political, social or any other reason - I respect that. If someone think s/he should avoid visiting Israel due to his political views - I can't help that. It is his/her right to choose his political views and act accordingly, whether I like it or not. All I am asking is to be fair, respect the effort done by fellow Wikimedians, and especially not to spread false information.
Dror K
That's beyond the scope of Wikimania, but Ray, if you do plan to see the region before or after the conference, you may consider visiting the West Bank, because the Palestinian economy needs tourism as part as the effort to make it independent. Just make sure that your insurance covers this region and all other technical issues. Jordan is also easily accessible from Israel and worth a visit. Despite the ongoing political conflict, there is economic cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians (and also Jordanians to some extent) for the benefit of all sides. Unfortunately this cooperation is overshadowed by political issues, which are important, but make up only part of the story. Anyway, don't make hasty decisions about your itinerary, things are often not as they are seen from a distance.
Dror K
Just to give you some background on the issue - There is currently an aggressive campaign by certain pro-Palestinian groups to boycott Israel. The campaigners are well organized and they will probably continue to send messages to this mailing list. The campaign is political, however it is not supported by any government, nor is it supported by the Palestinian Authority or any of the moderate Palestinian organizations. After about four years of growing cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians (despite the remaining disagreements, which are hard to resolve), there are people and organizations who try to pour fuel on the extinguishing fire. Unfortunately, they do not respect this forum and its participants.
I would also like to note that when Alexandria was rightfully chosen to host Wikimania (and its team did a wonderful work), there were Israelis among the bid team and the sponsors. The question of the Arab-Israeli conflict was never raised and it was deemed totally irrelevant. When Wikimania was held in Taiwan, I personally called the Taiwanese representations in Tel Aviv and Amman to check if they can issue a visa to an Egyptian citizen who wanted to participate and had difficulties as there was no Taiwanese representation in Egypt.
I hope this is the last message in this subject.
Dror K
-----Original Message-----
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Subject: Wikimania-l Digest, Vol 61, Issue 1
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Today's Topics:
1. Re: Boycott Wikimania 2011 (Evangeline Han)
2. Re: Boycott Wikimania 2011 (Anonyme)
3. Re: Israel = apartheid (Anonyme)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2011 09:03:37 +0700
From: Evangeline Han <evanbejin(a)gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Wikimania-l] Boycott Wikimania 2011
To: "Wikimania general list (open subscription)"
<wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Message-ID:
<AANLkTimskah+3u8LKmdH_VtjfqGa5Fb6ArhH8vVwCboo(a)mail.gmail.com>
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Hey guys,
Just a thought. If you want to boycott Wikimania, there is no need to
announce it on the list. We're not interested if you've already made up your
mind to boycott. It's pretty immature to boycott and then announce it to
everyone... unless you're canvassing...?
--Evangeline
On Fri, Apr 1, 2011 at 5:12 AM, Alejandro Farah <farah(a)astro.unam.mx> wrote:
> I agree with the boycott... I am sorry about Palestinians, but more sorry
> about human stupidity...
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 4:03 PM, Mohamed Mostafa ouda <mmustafa8(a)gmail.com
> > wrote:
>
>> Hi All
>>
>> I Also decided to boycott of Wikimania 2011 due to Israel's brutal
>> politics against Palestinians .
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 11:51 PM, Anonyme <cautious2(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> But fine, while you're there, think about the oppression that the people
>>> of Gaza are under...
>>>
>>> Have a fine time
>>>
>>> C
>>>
>>>
>>> Le 2011-03-31 ? 17:38, Gerard Meijssen a ?crit :
>>>
>>> Hoi.
>>> I am really happy that Haifa will not be missing among all the Wikimanias
>>> I will be at. I will be happy to meet many of my friends and I will drink in
>>> Haifa to absent friends. I hope we will have great streaming so that you can
>>> get an impression of how awesome Wikimania is.
>>> Thanks,
>>> GerardM
>>>
>>> On 31 March 2011 23:08, Anonyme <cautious2(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I decided to do a complete boycott of Wikimania 2011 due to Israel's
>>>> politics and the situation in the Gaza Strip and the illegal colonization
in
>>>> the West Bank.
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
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>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Mohamed Mostafa Ouda
>>
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>>
>
>
> --
> -------------------------------
> Dr. Alejandro Farah
> Instituto de Astronomia, UNAM, CU
> M?xico DF, CP 04510
> 52+55+56223906
> http://www.astroscu.unam.mx/~farah
> -------------------------------
>
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>
Please dont hold you conference in Haifa
If so I will be obliged to boycott you
I was brought up in South Africa
--
Matthew Satchwell
Box 217
Riebeek Kasteel
7307
083 6610220