Mohammed Omer
Posted by jonathanfryer on Thursday, 3rd July, 2008
Last month, I was able to attend a briefing in London by the Palestinian journalist and blogger Mohammed Omer, who had been awarded the 2008 Martha Gelthorn Prize for Journalism. In the citation for his prize, Mohammed was hailed as the ‘voice of the voiceless’ and praised for his ‘humane record of the injustice imposed on a community forgotten by much of the world’. The slide-show he presented at his briefing was chilling, not least the fatalities and horrific injuries suffered by Palestinian children shot by the Israeli armed forces or as victims of ‘collateral damage’.
On his way back to the Gaza Strip where he lives, in Rafah, Mohammed was stripped, humilated and beaten by Israeli soldiers at the Allenby Bridge crossing from Jordan into the West Bank. He was subsequently hospitalised. The official Israeli response was that he had ‘fallen over’ and that he had received ‘fair treatment’ at the crossing. As a former Dutch Ambassador to Israel commented, ‘this is by no means an isolated incident, but part of a long-term strategy to demolish Palestinian social, economic and cultural life.’ He went on to warn that Mohammed Omer might well be killed in the future, as has already happened to some members of his family.
Israel is currently celebrating 60 years of its existence. But so long as the occupation of the West Bank and the collective punishment of the Palestinian people continue, many of us in the outside world feel unable to join in those celebrations. Moreover, far from increasing Israel’s security as allegedly intended, Israeli policies in the occupied territories, including renewed illegal settlements and the persistent degradation of Palestinians trying to go about their peaceful business, actually increases the country’s insecurity. I deplore suicide bombers and rocket attacks against Israel’s civilian population. And I wish more than anything else for a peaceful solution to the Middle East situation in which Muslim, Jew and Christian can live peacefully side by side. But that just isn’t going to happen until everyone recognises each other as human beings with equal rights.
Link: www.rafahtoday.org
