Existence is Resistance is mourning the untimely and tragic passing away of our brother and fellow activist Abu Obeida Omran.
This was a man who committed his time and resources to bring awareness on the plight of the Palestinian people.
We had the pleasure of organizing with this great man and traveling with him to the Gaza Strip in July of 2009 on a huge American convoy to break the barbaric siege on Gaza and to deliver much needed medical supplies to our Palestinian brothers and sisters.
Abu Obeida was a man of action when it came to the liberation of Palestine. I remember the first time i met him in Brooklyn, NY. We were packing up the supplies that we were taking with us to Gaza. We needed boxes, a lot of them. Abu Obeida in his signature cowboy hat saw that i had a van and comes up to me and says if i was willing to take him to a FedEx to get some boxes. He did not hesitate, he did not care if he had to pay for it, he only cared that we needed these boxes and he was going to make sure we had them. This is the Abu Obeida i remember, a man who was always reliable, selfless and dedicated to freedom.
He picked me up at the airport in Cairo when i arrived and we were so happy to see each other, we were a step closer to reaching Gaza. He told me how he spent his honeymoon with his wife in Cairo and had such great memories of it.
Abu Obeida was a hard working man and ran a gas station in Houston, Texas. He confronted a shoplifter and escorted him outside where the shoplifters accomplice started attacking Abu Obeida, while he was protecting himself the man he caught stealing goes in his car and runs Abu Obeida over. He was seriously injured and passed away in the hospital later that night. The two suspects have been apprehended and are being charged with murder and assault.
He is survived by his wife who is pregnant, two sons and a daughter.
We would like to send our condolences to his family and to Palestine. This is a great loss but we will never forget this man and his contributions to the struggle.