Palestinians race to disrupt Israeli marathon

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Palestinians race to disrupt Israeli marathon

Published Friday 01/03/2013 (updated) 03/03/2013 21:15

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) – Israeli police on Friday stopped a Palestinian protest "marathon" organized against an Israeli event that takes place annually in occupied Jerusalem.

Palestinian racers started off in the historic Lifta village to counter the Israeli marathon that began from the Knesset building, said Dimitri Diliani, a senior Fatah official.

Diliani told Ma'an that “Palestinian youths participating at the marathon handed the Israelis a formal paper written in English explaining what this marathon really means for Jerusalem.

“A few Israelis who didn’t know the truth behind this marathon actually left,” he said.

The official added that Israeli police attacked Palestinians participating in the protest marathon and detained them for an hour, but the activists turned the detention into a new protest.

“The guys turned it into a sit-in (demonstration) and left Palestinian flags calling for Israelis to wake up and learn the meaning of their marathon,” said Diliani.

The goal, Diliani added, was to counter the occupation’s "plans of ethnic cleansing."

“I’m proud to say that despite all Israeli restrictions and detentions, the Palestinian marathon succeeded in its mission,” he said.

Boycott calls

Palestinian officials had already called on companies and individuals involved in Friday's marathon to withdraw their support for the event, which includes areas of occupied East Jerusalem.

Becoming involved in the event risks being "complicit in covering up Israel’s grave human rights abuses in its occupation of the State of Palestine," three Palestinian sports agencies said in a joint statement.

The Higher Council of Youth and Sports in Palestine, the Palestine Olympic Committee and the Palestinian Athletics Federation called on all participants and sponsors of the marathon to reconsider.

"This marathon is part and parcel of other Israeli policies and practices in Jerusalem that are aimed at exerting Israeli control over the occupied city and isolate it from the rest of Palestine," they said.

1 ) first it was a PEOPLE / NOW IT IS THE PALESTINIAN

01/03/2013 14:56

RACE????

what next-- Palestinian species???

2 ) Zainab / UK

01/03/2013 15:44

..“Palestinian youths participating at the marathon handed the Israelis a formal paper written in English explaining what this marathon really means for Jerusalem.." - This is a very positive example of the forward thinking of our young people today. Not only did they take the time to write a formal paper in English (a neutral language) explaining why they were protesting, they even turned the (non violent) protest into a 'sit in' & also left Palestinian flags, when provoked. We are proud of you

3 ) Outlier / USA

01/03/2013 16:06

Petty protest. And ultimately ill considered. Rather than change minds, it hardens positions.

4 ) Creators / Destroyers

01/03/2013 16:23

That is only thing palestinians do - disrupt something. They never try to create something - only disruption, destroying, ruining what other people build or create. That is why Palestine never existed as a state and never will exist. Never.

5 ) joe / usa

01/03/2013 16:36

Idont get it. jerusalem, at least half of it belongs to israel

6 ) ian / australia

02/03/2013 00:16

Nothing Israel does is innocent. Everything is politically calculated. The route of the marathon seems devised to muddy where the '67 line is. Especially for the international audience. (Dimitri Diliani's claim that "a few Israelis" withdrew after reading the screed sounds pretty absurd.) It's very subtle. They don't run up al-Wad Street and exit the Damascus Gate (or up Salah ad-Din Street!) because that would be TOO provocative. But they DO run from Jaffa Gate to Zion Gate which is every bit

7 ) ian / australia

02/03/2013 00:17

(contd.) as much occupied Palestine! The illusion of respect, in avoiding the Old City acts as a front for the fact that the race goes deep into occupied East Jerusalem, along the light rail, past the demolished Shepherd Hotel and on to the university! It's exquisitely calculated. And borne out by the odious Danny Danon, who certainly isn't in it for his health: "I think it marks a clear message: When we talk about the city being united, we mean it."

8 ) Lilith / The World

02/03/2013 02:32

Exactly Creators / Destroyers. Palestine as a State or Country never existed and unless the Arabs can get themselves some decent leaders, who want peace and stability their people, it will never will happen unfortunately

9 ) gabi / australia

02/03/2013 04:57

# 3 - "petty protest"? Is that all you can say about it? Why not look at what the protest was all about? Or is that just too hard? # 4 - read more history. In fact look at maps which show the extent of the Persian empire 6th and 5th century BC, and see that "Palestine" exists. Whether it was/is a state or not is not the question - the question is why Israel decided that it didn't exist ("a land without a people for a people without a land" BS) and so took it away from the indigenous occupants.

10 ) ian / australia

02/03/2013 05:32

#3 "Petty protest. And ultimately ill considered." Disagree Outlier. It's an important issue and worth explaining esp. to an international audience (it being an international event). "Rather than change minds, it hardens positions." The Israeli position could scarcely be more "hardened", so no harm done there, but EXPLAINING can "change minds". Diliani's claim that Israelis withdrew after reading the Palestinian "paper" mightn't be credible, but international runners would be more sympathetic!

11 ) ian / australia

02/03/2013 05:33

(contd.) I mean, why did Adidas pull out as sponsor? Then refuse to comment when asked about it?

12 ) ian / australia

02/03/2013 05:34

#4 "They never try to create something - only disruption, destroying, ruining what other people build or create." Stole is the word you're after. "...what other people stole."

13 ) ian / australia

02/03/2013 05:35

#5 "Idont get it. jerusalem, at least half of it belongs to israel" That's true joe. It does. And MOST of the marathon IS run in West Jerusalem, ie. Israel. It's just that it ALL should be! Not partly in another country and NOT to cunningly disseminate the lie that Jerusalem is one "united" (Jewish) city!

14 ) Reader / from Edmonton

02/03/2013 09:54

Palestine claims East Jerusalem as its capital. What belongs to Israel is not in dispute. Israel set its borders in 1948 and nothing has changed those borders since then. No legal annexations, no transportation of Israeli citizens, no violation of Geneva Conventions, no flaunting of UN resolutions, no murders or tortures, no subjugation, no inhuman treatment or provocations can change that.

15 ) Julie / USA

02/03/2013 14:27

#4 - every time Palestinians create anything, izrael destroys it...every single time, but that is NOT the only thing izraelis do. Add to that list: ethnic cleansing; murder; aggression; torture; daily violation of human rights and international law on land, sea and air; theft of land & other property; war crimes, etc. oh, and YES Palestine DOES exit, long before izrael and also given statehood by the same UNGA that gave izrael statehood. got any other hasbara we can all laugh at?

16 ) Reader / from Edmonton

03/03/2013 00:52

Stop the zionist race: I want to get off. And I'm not alone. We're coming for you. When you lose those guns you're waving in our faces, you be crapping your pants.

17 ) Peter Hindrup / Australia

03/03/2013 01:58

Reader: 'Israel set its borders in 1948 and nothing has changed those borders since then.' The 47 - 48 borders were proposed by the UN, They had to be ratified by the Palestinians. 45/55 split in favour of the Jews who owned only 6% of the land and were only a small proportion of the population. Some hope of it being ratified! This is why Israelis always complain that people are attempting to dellegitimise --- because it is illegitimate.

18 ) Reader / from Edmonton

03/03/2013 21:51

All of Israel's conflicts have been over territory outside Israel's declared borders. As the zionists were declaring statehood within the UN partition, Israeli terrorists were waving and shooting guns and throwing grenades at residents outside those borders. Where was this territory secured for Palestinians? And what was the deadline for ratifying? And what was to be done about those murdered within Israel's borders or chased from Israel by gun-waving terrorists?

19 ) Outlier / USA

04/03/2013 00:22

I reiterate - petty and counterproductive. One picks one's battles. Palestinians picking this one makes more important ones that much harder.

20 ) ian / australia

08/03/2013 00:40

#19 "I reiterate - petty and counterproductive. One picks one's battles. Palestinians picking this one makes more important ones that much harder." I like a man who reiterates so I'll reiterate too. I don't think there is a "more important" battle than borders. The race obscures the '67 line which has become the defacto border (since Res 242 and the ICJ opinion) and pointing out the fact and reminding people where Occupied Palestine begins seems to me vital. The battle wasn't really to shut down

21 ) ian / australia

08/03/2013 00:42

#19 "I reiterate - petty and counterproductive. One picks one's battles. Palestinians picking this one makes more important ones that much harder." I like a man who reiterates so I'll reiterate too. I don't think there IS a "more important" battle than borders. The race obscures the '67 line which has become the defacto border (since Res 242 and the ICJ opinion) and pointing out the fact and reminding people where Occupied Palestine begins seems to me vital. The battle wasn't really to shut down

22 ) ian / australia

08/03/2013 00:43

(contd.) the marathon or even re-route it. Just to broadcast internationally where sovereign Palestine is!

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