Hello All,

I am answering to this e-mail on my own, I am not part of the organizing team. I want to mention that I am an Israeli citizen that travels a lot of work and pleasure. I have many friends from ALL over the world coming to visit me and I also participated and organized tens of international conferences in Israel. As someone with lots of experience let I feel obligated to answer some of the issues rose in the previous e-mails:

1) Israel is an open and welcoming country. Everyone for every country is welcome to visit. If you are American, Canadian or EU citizen you don’t need a visa to visit Israel for business or pleasure.

2) You may be banned from entering Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Kuwait, and Sudan if you have an Israeli visa or stamp in your passport. I have had few friends who visited Israel then went through Jordan to Syria and Lebanon and didn’t have any problems…they were just asked of what they did in Israel. So stamp or visa doesn’t mean automatically you are banned from entering those countries.BTW, visitors from those countries are not banned to visit Israel.

3) As I said, I have been involved with tens of conferences, whenever someone asked to not have his passport stamped but have the stamp on a paper and staple it to his passport he/she were NEVER refused!!! And I talk of about more than 100 people I know that have asked for it. The immigration officers are aware of it and have NO problem.

4) Israel hosts hundreds of conferences a year and there are a lot of tourists coming, officers at the airport are used to dealing with tourists and visitors, they do their job respectfully and professionally. All stories described here about arresting or talking laptops are nothing but nonsense.

5) Israel has to be extra secured as it is surrounded by many nations who wants it to not be here. Therefore, Israel is taking extra security measures when it comes to airport security. You wouldn’t see anything here that you don’t see today in Europe or the US. The only extra thing that we have in Israel is what we call profiling. Meaning that every passenger is being asked general questions about his/her stay in Israel and about their luggage. Those questions have saved lives of thousands of people. Just be nice and co-operate, it will be quick and you can be sure that nothing will happen on your flight J

6) Haifa and Israel in general are beautiful, welcoming full of history, nature and night life…we are looking forward to seeing you all at the Wikimania conference and I am sure you will LOVE it.

If anyone has any further questions he/she are more than welcome to contact me via e-mail at yohaied@gmail.com or Facebook (the same e-mail)

See you soon in HAIFA,   

Yohai Edery

E-mail: yohaied@gmail.com
P Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to

From: wikimania-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikimania-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Maysara Omar
Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2010 9:41 PM
To: Wikimania general list (open subscription)
Subject: [Wikimania-l] Problematic aspects of hosting the next conference in Haifa, Israel

Dear Wikimaniacs!

okay i will address this issue, and please excuse me had it been addressed elsewhere online, and point me to where i can have a look on the discussion.

One of the most important criteria in deciding on the place to host wikimania annual conferences is “ease of attendance”, which is only logical. [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania/Judging_criteria] Now there are some serious concerns regarding hosting the next wikimania conference in Haifa, Israel. Please bear with me, and understand that non of these concerns has anything to do with politics, and that they are entirely practical:

1) This is a quote from a website of an American company called “A Briggs Passport & Visa Expeditors” [http://www.abriggs.com/high_level/FER_I/Israel_FER.php] which specializes in securing “expedited passports and travel visas for international travelers ...” It says:

“Israel has strict security measures that may affect visitors. Prolonged questioning and detailed searches may take place at the time of entry and/or departure at all points of entry to Israel, including entry from the West Bank and Gaza. Travelers with Arabic surnames, those who ask that Israeli stamps not be entered into their passports, and unaccompanied female travelers have been delayed and subjected to close scrutiny at points of entry. Security-related delays or obstacles in bringing in or departing with cameras or electronic equipment are not unusual. Laptop computers and other electronic equipment have been confiscated from travelers leaving Israel from Ben Gurion Airport during security checks. While most are returned prior to departure, some equipment has been damaged, destroyed or lost as a result. Americans who have had personal property damaged due to security procedures at Ben Gurion can contact the Commissioner of Complaints at the airport for redress. During searches and questioning, Israeli authorities have denied American citizens access to U.S. consular officers, lawyers, or family members.”

This is not the only source that confirms these practices.

2) It is frequently reported, that airport and entry points officials, refuse to stamp the israeli entry permit in a separate paper and insist on stamping it in the passport. Travelers with an israeli visa, or even exit/entry stamp in their passports, may not enter many countries, including Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Kuwait, and Sudan, and perhaps other countries of which i have no knowledge. Carriers of visas and stamps from any of these countries and other countries as well (such as Bahrain, Pakistan, Algeria, Indonesia, and Malaysia) are reported to be frequently harassed and maltreated as they attempt to enter Israel.

3) I am rather concerned about the difficulty, and impossibility of some interested participants to be able to attend had they wanted. There are problems on the levels of acquiring a visa, then leaving their countries to Israel without trouble, then entering Israel, then leaving Israel, then getting back to their countries from Israel; the prospect of trouble and maltreatment exists with every step of these. Participants from Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine, and maybe other countries, are not even allowed to enter into Israel. Why should they not be able to participate in the wikimania annual conference? And why should the conference be held in such a place, in which precisely “ease of attendance” is absolutely lacking?!

I believe that Israel is not an appropriate place in which to hold a conference such as wikimania for all the reasons mentioned above, and i believe that it is fair to reconsider the decision, and i hope that we, along with the wikimedia foundation, and along with the israeli participants too, will find reason to address the issue with view to fairness and practicality.

Most appreciatively,
Maysara Omar