2011/6/28 Kim Bruning kim@bruning.xs4all.nl
Is there anyone who currently wants to come to wikimania, but definitely won't be able to come due to issues with permit/visa?
Indeed, Palestinians who live in the West Bank or in Gaza Strip have to obtain a permit to enter Israel. This permit is not very different from a Visa that participants from many other countries need to obtain. We are providing a lot of assistance to a great number of people who need Visas, permits, special travel and accommodation arrangements, etc.
We cannot reveal the personal details of any attendee. What I can tell is that until now there was only one serious Palestinian person who asked to attend (not counting the registrations which are bogus beyond any doubt). We sent that person all the needed information about getting the permit and we are in contact with the relevant government authorities about this matter. Unfortunately, we haven't heard from that person since.
Except doing our best to help the Palestinians who actually register to get the needed permits and to arrive, we also did our best to reach out to potential Palestinian attendees: We sent dozens of emails to Palestinian Wikipedians, software developers, activists of free culture and education, etc., and until now we got practically no reply from them, too, but we are still hopeful.
To sum things up: At this time we cannot, unfortunately, be sure that Wikimania 2011 will be bustling with Palestinian Wikipedians, but we also didn't get any complaints from someone who actually registered, applied for a permit and was denied.
-- Amir Elisha Aharoni · אָמִיר אֱלִישָׁע אַהֲרוֹנִי http://aharoni.wordpress.com "We're living in pieces, I want to live in peace." - T. Moore