WEST BANK

Palestine Marathon turns five

March 23, 2018

Thousands of competitors will run along Israel’s 26-foot-high separation barrier and loop around the town of Bethlehem during the fifth Palestine Marathon. The race-cum-political statement, first run on Apr 21, 2013, is aimed at spotlighting Israel’s fragmentation of Palestinian lands.

The route of the 42 km (26.2 mile) race, named the Right to Movement: Palestine Marathon, loops four times through the city, down its main avenue and alongside the barrier. It was chosen to draw attention to the constraints Palestinians say they face in their daily lives – that there is no route that can be run continuously before hitting a border or roadblock.

A half marathon, 10K and 5K races are run in conjunction with the marathon.

The Palestine Olympic Committee (POC) sponsors the event, and it received recognition from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in Oct 2017.

Some 213 Palestinians and 218 foreigners from 21 countries participated in the first marathon, organized to protest against the checkpoints and call for the freedom of movement in the West Bank. Some 10,000 local and 6,200 foreign participants registered for the 2017 race, and the number is expected to increase for the 2018 race.

The Palestinians seek an independent state in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Palestinians and their international supporters have turned toward sports in recent years to draw attention to their struggle for statehood.

The New York Times notes that much of the West Bank is under direct Israeli military rule, while tiny Gaza – just about the length of a marathon run in a straight line – is blockaded by Israel and Egypt. The newspaper adds that Palestinians are mostly severed from East Jerusalem, their hoped-for future capital.

#22393 Published: November 28, 2017