Dalia Othman reports that the 3d annual Arab bloggers’ conference in Tunis is proceeding with many participants, but only one Palestinian blogger. The rest of the delegation has been denied visas by the Tunisian gov’t. Othman has gotten a screwy response from the Tunisian ministry of interior.
We have yet to receive an official reason as to why the entire Palestinian delegation (with the exception of one blogger Sa’ed Karazon) got denied a visa. We’re taking one final shot at this, and hoping the Palestinian ambassador in Tunisia would be able to pressure the Mninistry to either give us an official reason to why we were denied, or grant us visas. I’m hoping we could at least attend the remaining 3 days of the conference, it would be an honor to meet such amazing people who have created change. Here’s hoping the Tunisian government would change their mind and grant us a visa!
The list of people who were supposed to go are: Asmaa’ Abdulmawjood (Alghoul), Ebaa Alburai, Mohammed Abu Sharkh, Majd Kayyal, Thameena Husary, Nisreen Mazzawi, Saleh Dawabshe, Khaled Sharqawi, Bashar Lubbad and me (Dalia Othman)
As much as many of us supported the Tunisians in their spring rebellion, one thing should not be over looked. Many of those who ended up on the provincial ruling council were Western trained professionals. They have spent the last six months working to put their economy back in shape. This means they have had to enter into negotiations with many people who are Zionists. It would be so easy for them to make sure the new Tunisian government keeps its distance from the Palestinians.
Tunisia represents a middle class revolution, not a people’s revolution. This story must be spread among the rest of the Arab countries to put pressure on Tunisia not to become an Israeli/US pawn.