Sharon, Why Did You Destroy My House?
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Palestinian journalist, Mohammed Omer, age 22, winner of the best Ethnic Media Award, organized by New America Media in Washington DC.
His story sheds the light on the daily suffer and human details of Palestinian family who was turned to homeless as Israeli Occupation Forces destroyed their home in the refugee camp of Rafah, south of Gaza, last year. He shares his experiences reporting from Israeli Occupied Gaza and talks about the demolishing of his home (to build Israel’s ‘Apartheid Wall‘), the killing of his young brother by seven bullets of the ‘Israeli Terrorist Forces,’ and the killing of activist Rachel Corrie, via an Israeli bulldozer.
[Hat tip: Robin/Karin]
Omar won the award for his story “”Sharon, Why Did You Destroy My House?“: Operation Rainbow a Year Later” published by Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and the Norwegian “Morgenebladet” last year.
Omar, who is attending the “New America Media’s First National Ethnic Media Awards” in Washington DC is the first journalist from the Middle East to win this award.
He spoke at the Palestine Center in Washington, D.C. His lecture tour is sponsored by the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs magazine-a highly respected news journal.
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5 Comments on “Sharon, Why Did You Destroy My House?”
Hi Haitham,
Thanks so much for posting about this great young man … we are so much looking foreward to hear him tomorrow and (hopefully meet with him after the lecture) on Saturday!
I really wish he would have an audience real large in numbers as all he does, is spread the truth and present the REAL picture! In order to help facilitating that I add the schedule right here!
I listened to the video-clip yesterday evening and was highly impressed about the charisma (even though it gave me the goose bumps!!) and self-confidence this guy has .. after all, he is only 22 years old!!
Let’s hope and pray his words will touch many hearts and the people will finally WAKE UP!
WHEN: WHERE: TIME: VENUE: ADDRESS:
11/26 San Antonio, TX 19:00 University of Incarnate Word 4301 Broadway
11/27 New Orleans, LA 19:00 Zeitgeist Arts Center 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.
11/28 Washington, DC 12:30 Palestine Center 2425 Virginia Ave. NW
……… Boston, MA TBA North Eastern University TBA
11/29 Brattleboro, VT 19:00 Centre Congregational Church 193 Main St.
11/30 New York, NY TBA Contact: yasminaai@hotmail.com TBA
12/01 Princeton, NJ 16:30 Princeton University TBA
12/02 Chicago, IL 13:30 In These Times Magazine Building 2040 N. Milwaukee Ave.
12/03 Fitchburg, WI 14:00 Memorial United Church of Christ 5705 Lacy Rd.
12/04 TBA TBA TBA TBA
12/05 Philadelphia, PA TBA Friends Center 1501 Cherry St.
12/06 Silver Spring, MD 19:00 Taste of Jerusalem Restaurant 8123 Georgia Ave.
12/07 Los Angeles, CA 19:00 Southern California Library 6120 South Vermont Ave.
12/08 San Diego, CA TBA TBA TBA
12/09 Glendale, CA 16:00 Glendale Central Library 222 E. Harvard St.
12/10 Sacramento, CA 14:00 UHW/SEIU Hall 1911 F Street
12/11 San Francisco, CA TBA Woman’s Building—Audre Lourde Rm. 3543 18th St. #8
12/12 Denver, CO 17:30 The Denver Press Club 1330 Glenarm Place
I watcged the video.
I would be proud to call him my son. I am an old person so I couldn’t say brother.
He deserves respect. He is telling the truth. I give him all the respect that I can give him.
Last night I had the honor of meeting Mohammed at the event put on by I Witness Palestine here in LA. From our second row seats, we listened as this young man gave to the audience the information he has collected from his own personal experiences and the experiences he has documented of others. As an American myself, I sat in my seat transfixed by his story, knowing that my own tax payer dollars, which I have no control over other than to write letters protesting their use, are going to fund this brutal inhumane illegal occupation of Palestine. Instead of my tax dollars going towards humane purposes to feed and educate the Palestinian people, they are going to kill and mame them, in the genocidal war against a people, the Palestinians, who wish for nothing more than to live in peace. A person in the audience asked him, “What can we as Americans do to help you and your people?” Mohammed said, “Please spread our story, write letters to your representatives and talk to others so that they might become aware of our plight” Why is it that so many Americans are either unaware or turn the other way when they are confronted with the truth of what is happening to the Palestinian people at the hands of the Zionist government of Israel? Why is it that Americans have been brainwashed into believing that the Palestinian people deserve this treatment? It is simply because they have only been exposed to one-sided information perpetuating a crisis that we on the other hand say is impossible to solve because the Palestinians themselves want no part of peace. I urge any Americans reading here to disavow your prior conceptions concerning the Palestinian/Israeli crisis and to start afresh with your own desire for peace in this region. I urge you to read Mohammed’s reports which you can find here http://www.rafahtoday.org/ The courage with which Mohammed conducts his daily life documenting the story of his people while risking his own life doing so is CERTAINLY worthy of our MOST sincere admiration and attention.
He told us a story of a small boy who he asked, “What is your dream?” This very small child replied to him, “I only want to drink a cold glass of mango juice”. The people of Gaza and the West Bank are starving and being killed while the world sits idly by waiting for some kind of solution. Please, if you are an American, be a part of that solution and become educated as to the truth. And when you embark on this journey to learn the truth, keep your hearts open and take steps, no matter how small in the beginning, to spread the word to others here in America, that we do NOT want our government to support this monstrous brutality ANY MORE.
There is nothing more I can say … Robin said it all in a most appropriate and convincing way! We both had an opportunity to chat with him for a few minutes after the lecture and it became even more apparent what very fine young man Mohammad Omer is. The clips he presented and the pictures he showed spoke their own drastic and most painful and disturbing language … and the fact he received standing ovations at the end of the lecture, as well.
I wish his presentation would open not only eyes but as well hearts and allows people to see clearly and recognize what is REALLY happening! The fact there usually are no (foreign) reporters permitted to these areas has a reason … the world should not see nor get to hear what is REALLY happening! I wish to God people would wake up from their slumber and refuse to cooperate! IT IS HIGH TIME TO STAND UP AGAINST INJUSTICE!!
Hope people see this: Mohammed was brutally detained at Allenby. He has been in the hospital since Saturday, please link to this link and sign the petition which is going to Sec. Rice to protest this CRIME!
http://mediausa.net/wrmea/petition/
Petition to End Israel�s Restrictions on Freedom of Movement and the Press
To: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
We, the undersigned, condemn Israel�s appalling treatment of Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs Gaza correspondent and author of the magazine�s regular feature, �Gaza on the Ground.� The 24-year-old Palestinian journalist was brutally assaulted by Israeli Shin Bet security officials at the Allenby Bridge border crossing on his way home to Gaza on June 26. He had just received the 2008 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, which he shared with independent American journalist Dahr Jamail. Omer�s award citation reads, �Every day, he reports from a war zone, where he is also a prisoner. His homeland, Gaza, is surrounded, starved, attacked, forgotten. He is a profoundly humane witness to one of the great injustices of our time. He is the voice of the voiceless.� (see John Pilger�s July 2 article, �From Triumph to Torture,� in the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/02/israelandthepalestinians.civilliberties)
This is not an isolated incident, Pilger points out, but part of a terrible pattern. Israel gives its border guards and Shin Bet agents free rein to regularly harass Palestinians (as well as Palestinian Americans and American peace activists and academics) traveling to and from the occupied territories. Israel randomly abuses, searches, interrogates and humiliates travelers of every age�men and women�and frequently refuses to let them pass through Israeli-controlled borders to their homes in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. We just don�t hear their voices.
Israel simply doesn�t want Palestinian voices to be heard abroad. Palestinians are routinely prevented from accepting invitations to speak in Europe or North America. Students with scholarships to study overseas are not permitted to leave. Israel is now preventing Palestinians from returning home, even for a visit, once they have left to work or study abroad. (Israel recently revoked Zeina Ashrawi Hutchison�s travel documents, and will not renew her Jerusalem ID card. She is not allowed to return home to visit her father and mother, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi.)
We, the undersigned, also urge the Israeli government to end its efforts to censor international reports from the occupied territories. The government prefers stories to be filed from Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, where they are subject to censorship, and allows few, if any, international journalists to enter the West Bank and Gaza. Israel censors, harasses and even kills Palestinian journalists who are trying to report on conditions in the occupied territories.
We call on the Israeli government to protect journalists who are trying to work in the occupied territories. At least eight journalists have been killed in the West Bank and Gaza since 2001, seven of them in attacks by Israel Defense Forces, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists research.*
We call on the Israeli government to end its harassment of travelers and journalists. When Israel targets journalists it infringes on a basic pillar of democracy, freedom of the press. Human beings, even those ruled for decades by an occupying power, have the right to leave home and return safely, without interference, and the right to freedom of speech.
Sincerely,