[Foundation-l] Partecipation in Wikimania 2011

[Moushira Elamrawy]

Abbas: Let us not generalize; it is a complex and complicated matter
about the will/ability to visit Israel if you happen to be a resident
of an Arab or Muslim nation.

I believe the "difficulty" of getting a visa varies from one country
to another, but even with the help of the bidding team, an issue will
remain unresolved, that is: Some countries do not allow persons with
an Israeli stamp on their passports, to enter their borders. The list
includes: Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria, UAE, Turkey ..and other
destinations. I am not sure if there are exceptions for this rule in
those countries. It is a complicated situation on political and
ethical levels.
Maybe it remains a personal choice of the participant whether to make
it Haifa or not.

M



On 8/11/10, Abbas Mahmoud <abbasjnr at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Not only the Middle East, but the Muslim population at large will not dare
> step into Israeli soil.
>
>> Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2010 13:06:45 +0100
>> From: thomas.dalton at gmail.com
>> To: foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
>> Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Partecipation in Wikimania 2011
>>
>> On 11 August 2010 12:37, Andrea Zanni <zanni.andrea84 at 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.
>>
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