David Baldinger - Cartoonist & Photographer

This is a special appeal to sign the following Petition addressed to Condoleezza Rice. It will be presented to her early tomorrow….. 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 ...

Originally posted by my good friend in Israel, Desert Peace . Make a point of reading his site daily! UPDATE from IPS NEWS… just published. My dear friend and brother Mohammed Omer returned to his native Gaza Strip on Thursday… literally unconscious and unable to speak after being beaten and tortured by Israeli troops. He is still unable to speak so I was not able to communicate with him, I will be posting updates on his condition in future posts. Mohammed was in Britain, where he was the recipient of a prize for journalism. You can read about it HERE in a post I wrote earlier in the week. Mohammed’s ordeal is written about in an Action Alert issued by the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs , a journal in which he appears regularly. Gaza Correspondent Mohammed Omer Home Again in Rafah At a June 16 ceremony in London, Mohammed Omer, author of the regular Washington Report feature “Gaza on the Ground,” received the 2008 Martha Gellhorn Pri...