A
Young Man's Chronicle Of Hell
By Randolph T. Holhut
04 December, 2006
Opednews.com
DUMMERSTON, Vt.
- What happens when one of the most important news stories in the world
happens literally in your front yard?
If you are Mohammed Omer,
you become a journalist.
I had a chance this week
to meet with Omer, a 22-year-old freelance journalist and photographer
from Israeli-occupied Gaza. He was in Brattleboro, Vt., to give a talk
about his life and work, part of a U.S. speaking tour sponsored by the
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.
This young man has seen much
death and destruction in his lifetime, but unlike many reporters, he
did have to go look for it. Instead, it found him.
Omer has lived his entire
life in Rafah, a refugee camp near the Egyptian border. He said that
growing up, he wanted to be a translator and work for the Red Cross
or a similar non-governmental organization. He started doing that when
he was 17, but, as he put it, "life forced me to be a journalist."
What happened to him and
his family on October 2003 put him on the path to being a reporter.
His family's home was bulldozed by Israeli forces. His family was still
in the house at the time, and his mother narrowly escaped with a broken
leg.
The demolition happened less
than two weeks after one of his brothers, Hussam, 17, was killed by
an Israeli sniper while walking to school. When a neighbor tried to
rescue Hussam, she got shot also, as did another man who tried to help.
A younger brother, Issam, lost a leg after being hit in an attack that
same month.
"This is life in Gaza,"
said Omer.
At 18, he started reporting
for international media. Over the last four years, his reporting has
appeared on the BBC and other global broadcasters and in newspapers
in Sweden, Norway and Germany. His photos are distributed around the
world by Agence France-Presse and his blog, RafahToday.org.
In this country, his work
has appeared in the Vermont Guardian and the Washington Report on Middle
East Affairs. His work recently won the inaugural National Ethnic Media
Award for Best Youth Voice, presented by New American Media.
While some would say Omer
is too close to the story and lacks objectivity, given what he has experienced
in Gaza, he told me that he tries to be evenhanded, but that "I'm
not afraid to criticize anyone."
Omer is living and working
in a place where being a journalist is hazardous to your health, and
he is well-aware of the dangers. He has seen other reporters killed
and says he has had more than a few close calls. But he said he has
no intention of stopping what he is doing.
"If I don't do it, who
is going to?" he said.
Omer is visiting the United
States to call attention to what is happening in Gaza. Since the summer,
Israel - with the full support of the United States - has sealed off
Gaza in retaliation for the capture of a Israeli soldier by Palestinian
forces. Israeli forces cut off food, water and electricity and have
indiscriminately bombed civilians and bulldozed houses. The sound of
explosions and gunfire has become a sad soundtrack in Gaza.
Most of this goes unseen
in the American news media, which Omer says is totally biased in favor
of Israel. Omer wants to change that. He said his work is one way to
get the world to see the ordinary life of people in a war that they
did not seek or ask for.
His pictures of the violence
in Gaza are extremely gory - too gory for the tender sensibilities of
American news editors. In Europe, where newspaper readers and television
viewers are treated like adults, Omer's work gets wide play.
At a time when journalism
is under siege by market pressures, by government, by the general dumbing
down of the culture, Omer's example of courage, passion and commitment
gives me hope that a new generation is rising up to bring us the uncomfortable
truths about our world, regardless of the personal cost.
Randolph T. Holhut
has been a journalist in New England for more than 25 years. He edited
"The George Seldes Reader" (Barricade Books). He can be reached
at [email protected].
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