Washington Report Correspondent Mohammed Omer Hospitalized
Following Detention by Israeli Soldiers at Allenby Bridge Crossing
Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer, Gaza correspondent for the
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and co-recipient of the
2008 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, was hospitalized with
cracked ribs and other injuries inflicted by Israeli soldiers at
the Allenby Bridge crossing from Jordan into the occupied West Bank.
Omer was returning home to Gaza after a European speaking tour and
the June 16 London ceremony at which he accepted the prestigious
Gellhorn Prize.
Dutch MP Hans Van Baalen, head of the parliament's foreign
relations committee, and award-winning journalist John Pilger spent
weeks lobbying Israel to issue an exit permit for the 24-year-old
journalist. As has been the case before, diplomatic intervention
was necessary to secure permission for his return as well.
Nevertheless, Israeli authorities initially refused to allow Omer
to return to his home in Rafah from Amman. Finally—after missing
his brother's wedding—he was told that arrangements had been
made for him to cross the border on Thursday, June 26. Dutch
diplomats awaited him on the other side to escort him to the Gaza
Strip.
Instead of being granted free passage, however, Omer was detained,
questioned by a Shin Bet agent, strip searched at gunpoint,
assaulted and dragged by the heels to an ambulance after he began
vomiting and going in and out of consciousness. When he finally
came to, he was in a Palestinian hospital in Jericho, where he was
treated and allowed to return home in the custody of the Dutch
diplomats. See the following article by John Pilger in the July 2
Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/02/
israelandthepalestinians.civilliberties
The following afternoon, speaking from home, a recovering but still
traumatized Omer told the Washington Report that he was having
difficulty breathing and swallowing. The next day, suffering from
cracked ribs and other injuries, he was admitted to a hospital in
Gaza, where he remains as of this writing.
In his article in the August 2008 Washington Report, "A Voice for
the Voiceless," Omer defines his life's mission as "to get the
truth out," and describes himself as "not pro-Palestinian or
anti-Israeli, but simply…an eyewitness on the ground, reporting
what happens and why."
One of the Shin Bet agents who interrogated him at the Allenby
crossing advised Omer not to return to Gaza, where—thanks to the
Israeli siege—there is no electricity, potable water, medical
supplies, gasoline or other necessities of life. Clearly Israel
wants to silence Mohammed Omer's voice, as it has silenced the
voices of other journalists—most recently Omer's colleague Fadel
Shana, the 24-year-old Reuters cameraman killed by an Israeli tank
shell on April 16.
Palestinian journalists risk their lives on a daily basis to tell
the world what is happening in their homeland. Their words and
pictures remind us that we have yet to realize the vow, "Never
again!"
Please visit the Washington Report
website, http://mediausa.net/wrmea/petition/ , to sign a petition condemning Israel's
attacks on journalists, both Palestinian and international. Add
your voice to Mohammed Omer's on behalf of voiceless Gazans and
all Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation—an
occupation made possible by American tax dollars.
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