On 11 August 2010 12:37, Andrea Zanni zanni.andrea84@gmail.com wrote:
DISCLAIMER: this is a delicate issue that could easily generate a flame. So please everybody presume the good faith and stay on topic :-)
I don't really know if this issue as been discussed in earlier threads (I subscribed to this list after Gdansk and the only pertinent thing I found is here: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2011/Bids/Haifa/Q%26A#Participants), but I would like to know if there are updates about the possibility for Middle East citizens to have permissions to enter Israel for Wikimania 2011. I guess this type of permission is not easy to obtain (I'm thinking for example about citizens of Syria, West Bank or Iran) and I also remember a discussion in Gdansk (with Jan Bart, just after the World Cup Final :-( ) about some initiatives we could support to increase participation. Are there any news or updates? Could I find some information somewhere? Thank you in advance.
I spoke to quite a few people on the Israeli bid team and at the Foundation about Wikimania 2011 while in Gdansk and I know trying to get visas for as many people as possible, particularly from the neighbouring Arabic countries, is very high up on everybody's priorities. I don't know what is being done to achieve that, but the issue certainly isn't being ignored.