Palestine: Blogger Rasha Hilwi Not Welcome in Tunisia · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Rasha Hilwi, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, is a well-known journalist and blogger, and she was among the Palestinian bloggers refused visas to Tunisia in order to attend the 3rd Arab Bloggers Meeting that took place from October 3-6. Global Voices has interviewed Rasha, asking her about blogging, her work, and her feelings at not being allowed to attend the meeting.
Global Voices (GV): How long have you been blogging?
Palestinian blogger  Rasha Hilwi (Photo credit: Ehab Shukha)
GV: You are a journalist who writes for various newspapers and websites, so what kind of subject makes you choose to write a blog post instead of an article?
GV: Is blogging popular among Palestinians in Israel?
GV: How about social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter – are they having an impact on how Palestinians in Israel communicate, and perhaps organise politically?
GV: Are you involved in any other online projects?
GV: You and eleven other Palestinian bloggers were invited to attend the 3rd Arab Bloggers Meeting currently taking place in Tunis, but were not granted Tunisian visas. Can you tell us what happened? Was there a reason given?
Perhaps it now unimportant what the reasons are. This rejection is painful because since December 18 [the start of protests in Tunisia] we believed, and still believe, that the world is changing, and that with tomorrow will come better days.
This meeting in Tunisia, the land of revolution, was a chance for Palestinian bloggers to meet their Arab brethren and even each other (because a son of Ramallah is forbidden from visiting Haifa, and a daughter of Haifa is forbidden from visiting Gaza, and a son of Gaza is forbidden from visiting Jerusalem…) It would have been possible for them to meet in Tunisia, which has hosted Palestinians in the past… But it was not the case.