Athlete abused by Israeli soldier for carrying Palestine flag in Jerusalem marathon
Jerusalem came to a standstill on 16 March as thousands of runners gathered to participate in the city’s second annual marathon. But while the marathon was presented as a friendly and innocent international sporting event, in reality it contributed to normalizing Israel’s control over the city and its discriminatory policies towards Palestinian residents of Jerusalem.
Among the 15,000 runners was Poppy Hardee, a British woman living in Bethlehem, who decided to run the marathon in protest on behalf of her Palestinian friends who were not granted permission to access Jerusalem for the event. Hardee encountered abuse from Israeli soldiers in the race, with one of them snatching the Palestinian flag that she carried from her hands and spitting on it.
Although the race was heavily promoted worldwide and open for international participants, Palestinians were effectively excluded from running. While there was no overt discriminatory policy against those with West Bank identity cards within the registration process, in reality most West Bank residents would not be granted permission by Israel to access Jerusalem for the event.
Hardee applied for the marathon and started training with a Palestinian friend, a resident of the West Bank, who also intended to run. They were dismayed to find out he would not be granted access to Jerusalem for the race for “security reasons.”
The effective exclusion of Palestinians from the Jerusalem marathon highlights the irony that while foreigners are able to freely visit Jerusalem and its holy sites, many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have rarely, or even never, been able to visit the city.