Published: 26 March 2018
Last updated: 4 March 2024
Palestine Marathon puts spotlight on right of movement (Al-Jazeera)
THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE have taken part in the Palestine Marathon, an annual event in the Bethlehem area of West Bank. Like in previous years, the marathon on Friday - the event's sixth edition - attracted people from all over the West Bank and Jerusalem, as well as abroad.
The website of the event state that its objective is "to focus the lens on the basic right to move freely in Palestine".
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, there are more than 500 obstacles - checkpoints, roadblocks, earth mounds, etc - across West Bank roads which restrict Palestinian vehicular movement.
These also restrict the movement of marathon participants. In order to complete the 42km race, participants have to complete two loops of the same route to avoid encountering Israeli military checkpoints or settlements.
Some 7,000 people registered to take part in this year's marathon, which was won by Ukrainian Yuri Vladigier.
Thousands take part in 6th annual Palestine Marathon
The route follows Israel’s illegal 26-foot-high Separation Wall and loops four times through the city
Photo: [Anne Paq/Al Jazeera]
