The new literary and cultural site from Palestinian-Israeli author Ala Hlehel and journalist and culture critic Anton Shalhat, Qadita, is apparently blocked in the UAE and Saudia Arabia, Qadita reported yesterday.
Users attempting to access the site in the UAE got the nation’s typical blocking message: “Access to the site is currently blocked. The site falls under the Prohibited Content Categories of the UAE’s Internet Access Management Policy.”
Prohibited content categories include: dating sites, illicit drugs, nudity and pornography, gambling, hacking, abuse of religions, phishing, eavesdropping programs, unlicensed voice over IP protocols, and terrorism. In a post on Qadita, founder Ala Hlehel said he assumed the site was being blocked for alleged “pornography,” because of discussions of gay and lesbian issues.
Hlehel said he considered the banning a “badge of honor,” and added: “We invite all who wish to browse the website…to circumvent the ban.”
The Qadita article also provided a link for those interested in circumventing the ban.
I wish the Western media would report more on issues like this about how people in the Middle East are defying their censorship laws, rather than just on the existence of the laws themselves and pasting the whole place as supporting them.
thank you for this post 🙂