Hello Maysara and all,
I feel like I have to send an e-mail again regarding what you
wrote below as there is a lot of miss information in what you wrote.
Firstly, let's put things on the table, as an Egyptian you are
not feeling good with coming to Israel as it would seem to your friends back
home like you are trying to "normalize" relations with Israel.
Although there are almost 30 years of peace between our countries, Egypt and
Egyptians have been always against normalizing relation with Israel and in fact
there is a lot of incitement towards Israel and Jews in general in Egyptian
media, books, cultural events and so. Israeli cultural products (movies, music,
theater and such) were band from participation in festival in Egypt even
international ones held in Egypt. The situation with Jordan is not better…unfortunately.
On the meantime, Israel has welcomed movies, music and artists from Egypt and
Jordan that have participated in festivals and events in Israel.
I can guarantee that people from all over the world will have no
problem coming to the event in Israel. Israeli authorities will allow everyone
from everywhere to come to Wikimania providing he/she has not been engaged in
terrorist activities…which I believe is not the case for the participants of
our event….I doubt Al Qaida, Hammas and Hezbollah care about Wikipedia. I can
tell you from past experience that people from Libya and Lebanon came to
conferences in Israel without any trouble. The problem maybe with their own
home government….but that, unfortunately, we can't control.
Again, accusation bout maltreatment and confiscation of
belongings are NONSENCE I want to remind you that Israel is a full functioning
democracy!!! We DO NOT do things against the law and will not confiscate
anything from anyone unless there is a solid reason. Again, I have been
involved with tens of conferences in Israel and had many friends from all over
the world coming to Israel, none of them suffered from any of those things you maintained.
I would like to kindly ask you to stop with those accusations.
Regarding arriving to Israel from Cairo, again, you don’t have
to do that by bus or car only like you said….you can easily fly to Ben gurion
international airport in Tel Aviv on a non-stop flight from Cairo with El-Al
Israeli airline or Air Sinai (part of Air Egypt). If you need help with making
the reservations, I would love to help….
I think that change comes from people and not for the leaders….I
would expect you to see this event as a great opportunity to start real dialogue
between people in the Mideast and use such an important source of information
like Wikipedia to a good use as a tool to bring people together, break stigmas
and fight prejudice. The only way we can live together in peace is if we will
get to know each other….I have visited Egypt and Jordan as well as the Palestinian
territories…I know a lot about the Arab world…what do you know about me?
Hopping to show you all the real face of Israel when you are
hear...
Good night from Haifa, Israel
Yohai Edery
éĺçŕé ŕăřé
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: Thursday, August 12, 2010 5:46 AM
To: Wikimania general list (open subscription)
Subject: Re: [Wikimania-l] Problematic aspects of hosting the next
conference in Haifa, Israel
Hello to All :)
1) Of course i am aware that the decision has already been
made. I would not have brought this issue had i not thought, (along with many
others by the way who are unfortunately not here to express themselves about
this) that whatever jury took that decision has fallen into a manifest error,
that justifies a look back and reconsideration, rather than be ignored, and
regardless of whether this will change things or not. The issue needs to be
addressed, because it is very important. It is a fact, that participants from
Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and possibly other countries, will never have
the chance to attend the next wikimania conference should it be held in Israel.
Further, other participants from other countries, particularly "Arab"
countries whose citizens do not usually go to Israel for any purpose, and this
applies to both Jordan and Egypt with whom Israel is in diplomatically fine
terms, will find many troubles from both the Israeli and their own governments.
This is no speculation, there are hundreds of accounts on the internet of
maltreatment and confiscation of belongings of passengers for all sorts of
reasons by Israeli officials at entry/exit points. Questions asked in such
aggressive tonality and attitude regarding the passengers' views and opinion of
Israel and the conflict in the middle east. Please ask the ministry of foreign
affairs, whether they will let some attendees in, if they answered these
questions as they do believe rather than fake a friendly answer!
2) If even presidential elections can be repeated because
their results were doubtful, i cannot see why everyone here so far is talking
about the "impossibility" of reconsidering the validity of the
decision made by the jury, as though it is a sanctified or infallible one!
Somehow it seems that so far no one apart from myself, who could get into
Israel only following a car or bus ride of 8 hours from my very home in Cairo,
took the time to think of the position of those who will never be permitted
into Israel, or who will avoid doing so because Israel is in fact a problematic
destination for them. And regardless of whether any of this is fair or not, we
currently do have a realistic situation that is laden with injustice and great
potential of practical disorder, which somehow was not raised during the
decision making process, although it is no secret or news! This suggests that
non of those who will be negatively effected by the decision, were present when
the process of deciding was ongoing. One of the benefits of this discussion then,
is perhaps to give more attention to such matters as representativeness,
inclusive deliberation, and outreach, in further such processes of wikimania
biding and decision making. Perhaps from now on, we should make more effort in
reaching out for, you know, "all the people on Earth" who might want
to come to wikimania with their experiences, etc. Unfortunately I was not there
then, and maybe i won't be able to be there later, but I do not believe that it
is too late to bring this issue now, and to attempt to correct what is wrong
even by those who, understandably, love their own country and would have loved
to see it hosting such a wonderful event. It is for a clean, freeing,
progressive, and Humanistic experience and social process that we commit ourselves;
the passing-by moments in this experience will be destructive if they are
absorbed only in the passing-by moment!
Finally, Wikimania conferences must be accessible to
everyone, without having to speak of making "exceptions" and taking
extra measures to smoothen the passage of those who participate together
everyday in creating and making the new free knowledge and culture of our age
and the future. This is the position that I have chosen for myself, rather than
the one that you ask me to adopt, that is, to suggest solutions to numberless
problems and to an erroneous and unfair condition and situation. And now I ask
you, what is YOUR position?
:)
--
Maysara