American Consulate Bans Award-Winning Palestinian Journalist from U.S. Tour
 Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer was denied entry to the U.S. for a scheduled tour, and was beaten by the Israeli military and hospitalized upon his return to the Middle east
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(CHICAGO) – Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer was denied a visa to the United States where he was scheduled to speak in Chicago about the living conditions in Palestine, tour organizers said.
“Effectively canceling a planned speaking tour, the U.S. consulate in the Netherlands has put an extended hold on the visa application of [Omer],” tour organizers in Chicago wrote in a news statement.
When contacted, a representative said, the US Consulate in the Netherlands said it could not provide an update, while the US embassy told organizers they could not help.
The tour would see Omer speak in Santa Fe, Houston, and Chicago, where he would have been hosted by Haymarket Books in Chicago at the Newberry Library, which will reportedly go ahead with the event via skype.
The event is funded by Lannan Foundation, whose focus is the promotion of “cultural freedom, diversity and creativity through projects which support exceptional contemporary artists and writers.”
Host organizations in Santa Fe and Houston are considering keeping their events in place as well, a Haymarket spokeswoman said.
Omer – journalist and photo journalist for Rafah Today and correspondent for The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs – will instead speak at all his engagements via skype or video conference, the statement said.
Omer was awarded the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism in 2008 for “his firsthand reportage of life in the besieged Gaza strip.”
On his way back to Gaza after accepting the prize in London, Omer was detained, interrogated, and beaten by Israeli security forces and eventually hospitalized with cracked rib.
AMERICANS MUST NEVER HEAR THE TRUTH ABOUT GAZA « Desertpeace | Adwan US said,
March 22, 2010 at 12:48
[...] Excerpt from: AMERICANS MUST NEVER HEAR THE TRUTH ABOUT GAZA « Desertpeace [...]
DDearborn said,
March 23, 2010 at 13:41
Hmmm
It would seem that we are no longer the land of the free and the home of the brave. It would appear that our government has spent so much time bending over for Israel that it can no longer find its own way
Fred in Boston said,
March 23, 2010 at 14:48
Good thing they figured out how to circumvent these primitive attempts to silence the truth. Make a big deal about how the speaker has to be here and how important a visa is. Without the visa he can’t speak, blah, blah, blah. This is a diversion to let the idiots in the state department think
the visa is the key while all along a SKYPE or direct video connection is the primary plan. Beg and plead for the visa while you are setting up the video link.. Looks like they finally caught on here.
Paul Mills said,
March 23, 2010 at 14:50
These disgusting nazi thugs are slowly realising that their world is on very shaky ground and that the world will soon stand up and smite them a poes hou!!!
Wizard of Oswald » Americans must never hear the truth about Gaza 2009 said,
March 24, 2010 at 01:56
[...] to desert peace for the [...]
The true Holocaust - Palestina | Znox.org said,
March 24, 2010 at 20:10
[...] That same US government is doing everything in its power to insure that the Palestinian position not even be heard. Are they convinced that the truth will set the Palestinians free??? The valiant people of [...]