The Palestine Marathon unites the West Bank and Gaza under the slogan “We Run for Freedom”

The Palestine International Marathon returned for its tenth edition, bringing together the West Bank and the Gaza Strip under the slogan “We Run for Freedom”, in a sporting event with national and humanitarian dimensions, following a two-year hiatus caused by the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip and the ongoing escalation in the West Bank.

On Friday, the city of Bethlehem hosted the marathon’s winners’ ceremony, attended by the President of the Palestinian Supreme Council for Youth and Sport, Jibril Rajoub, alongside local and security officials and hundreds of participants and citizens, in a scene that breathed new life into one of Palestine’s most prominent sporting events.

Palestine Marathon commences

The race set off on Friday from in front of the Church of the Nativity, with Palestinian and foreign runners taking part, before winding its way along routes of political and national significance, passing alongside the Israeli separation wall, refugee camps and historic towns in the Bethlehem governorate, ending at the Birkat Solomon area south of the city.

In the full marathon, covering a distance of 42.195 kilometres, Samer Al-Joulani from Jerusalem took first place, ahead of Mohammed Tawfiq Al-Assi from Dheisheh refugee camp, whilst Ahmed Taha from Ramallah came third. As for the 21-kilometre half-marathon, Louai Al-Bosta from the Jordanian capital Amman took first place, followed by Hamza Amer from Kafr Qasim, and then Ahmed Wreidat from the town of Al-Zahiriya.

In the women’s race, Bayan Osama from Kafr Qara took first place in the 21-kilometre race, whilst Reem Ali, who lives in the United States, came second, and Heba Atallah, who lives in Canada, came third.

For the first time, the marathon extended to the Gaza Strip with the organisation of a simultaneous race that started from the Wadi Gaza Bridge area west of the Nuseirat refugee camp, ending in the south of Gaza City along the coastal road, with the participation of more than 2,500 runners from various age groups, including children, women, people with disabilities and professional athletes.

This event is considered a “truly national day”, particularly as the marathon embodied “national unity and Palestinian resolve” despite the conditions in the Strip following the recent war.

‘We Run for Gaza’

The tenth edition of the marathon took on a different character, as participants raised the slogan “We run for Gaza”, sending a clear message after the race began on the Gaza seashore and continued through the streets of Bethlehem, reflecting the unity of the Palestinian geography.

The return of the marathon this year signalled the Palestinians’ determination to resume public life and sporting activities despite the widespread destruction left by the war and the ongoing Israeli restrictions affecting sporting and social life in the Palestinian territories.

The marathon comes at a time when the West Bank has been witnessing a continuous escalation since the outbreak of the war on the Gaza in October 2023, amid killings, arrests, demolitions and settlement expansion, coinciding with the significant humanitarian repercussions of the war in the Gaza Strip, particularly the complete halt to sporting activity due to the near-total destruction of the sports sector.

Featured image via GazettExtra