Hello all,

I'm happy to share with you that last Monday, nearly four months after
Wikimedia Israel’s extraction of nearly 28-thousand public-domain
photographs <http://wikimedia.org.il/image-mining-project/> from archives
affiliated with the State of Israel and the Zionist movement, an agreement
was finally reached to reconcile the differences between the parties and to
assure future cooperation.

The archives from which the photographs had been extracted last November
questioned the legitimacy of Wikimedia Israel’s move and demanded an
apology for the misuse of their websites. They agreed, on the other hand,
to enhance access to public-domain material stored in their archives and to
further cooperation with Wikimedia Israel.

Following the agreement, Wikimedia Israel released a statement saying it
“regrets the situation that has resulted from lack of communication between
the archives and Wikimedia Israel”. The statement further says that
“different world-views and organizational cultures harmed the dialogue and
distorted the understanding of the intentions of the archives and of
Wikimedia Israel”. The statement ends by saying that “this is not how the
affairs should have been conducted, and we wish to apologize to anyone who
sees themselves offended by the move”.

The agreement calls for better access to public material, while maintaining
better sensitivity, and “respecting the rights of those who deposited the
material and the Israeli law”. In addition, Wikimedia Israel offered its
help in the effort to digitalize the material and make it more accessible.
This should serve not only Israelis, but also people throughout the Middle
East, who could find interest in historical photographs taken decades ago
in neighboring countries and territories.

I hope that in the near future this agreement will lead to a better
collaboration and releasing of materials.

Michal



*Michal Lester,*

*Executive DirectorWikimedia Israel*
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