On Wed, Jul 13, 2011 at 22:35, Harel Cain <harel.cain(a)gmail.com> wrote:
The short answer is that we never contacted Sari
Nusseibeh, and we're not
very satisfied with this situation.
This is for a mixture of reasons, some of them mundane (nobody really picked
up this specific suggestion; we were all busy; we forgot about it; we all
assumed someone else will do it) and some of them more to the point - first
and foremost because he is perceived, at least in the Israeli public, as a
downright political figure, having held formal positions positions on the
Palestinian side.
Clearly he's perceived as a moderate political figure, but that is totally
beside the point - we never meant to make Wikimania political (such as for
example inviting politicians to speak before us), and Sari Nusseibeh is very
much about politics.
Even his affiliation with moderate/leftist organizations on the Israeli side
of the political spectrum make this a political move in the inner Israeli
political perspective of the conference, and we don't want to make Wikimania
political even in this narrow sense.
We are not opposed to people trying to contact him, and I hope someone like
Dror Kamir on our part might still do it, but we are somewhat reserved about
his specific suitability here, because of unmistakeable political
involvement.
Harel, this Wikimania is anyway highly influenced by politics, no
matter what we want; which includes this thread. If Sari Nusseibeh is
willing to help, you should take that help. I am sure that he is a
reasonable person, who would try to avoid making possible problems to
us.