Palestine in the headline

There is no doubt that the eight-column headline in the sports page of The Washington Post last Sunday was remarkable and unprecedented: “Palestine Marathon sparks a growing push for movement over politics.”

Never before have the American media, certainly not the country’s leading newspapers, referred to the occupied Palestinian territories as Palestine, indicating a promising change in attitude or policy that is welcome.

The article, by Jacqueline Kantor, noted that at the fourth annual Palestine Marathon in Bethlehem, “running, politics and community intersected, resulting in a mishmash of intention and intensity”.

She added that “serious marathoners mingled with local kids in jeans and T-shirts while Europeans in spandex jogged past Palestinian women in long pants and bright headscarves”.

The race was sponsored by Right to Movement, a non-profit community dedicated to “telling a different story of Palestine” in a region that “has become sick of the traditional ways”, according to Ramez Qonqar, a 23-year-old aspiring sculptor whose 42.16-kilometre run through his hometown of Bethlehem marked his second finished marathon. He ran his first in Northern Ireland.

“Participation in the race is a non-violent demonstration, and a way to show we are here, and this is our land, and we have the right to move,” said 47-year-old Ashraf Hamouda.

“And this is a good way to show that because it is peaceful,” added his daughter, Noor, 14.

This year 4,371 participated, compared to fewer than 700 at the inaugural event four years ago. Israel refused to allow any participants from nearby Gaza, which is less than two hours away, while some came from France, Northern Ireland and the US; the American participants raised money for paediatric healthcare in Gaza and the West Bank.

The winner of the race was South African Mervin Steenkamp, who ran as part of Team Palestine.

Stefan Wagler, a German runner who lives and works in Bethlehem, told Kantor that the race was a perfect illustration of the cause.

As Kantor said, “there is not enough Palestinian land to construct a continuous viable course without retreading territory, making this perhaps the only race in the world with a course that is a political statement in itself. The marathon route looped through Bethlehem four times.”

In recent days, Israel’s support in the West, particularly in the US, has diminished.

In a just-released interview with an American newspaper, Bernie Sanders, the Democratic nominee in the upcoming presidential election, was quoted as saying that if Israel wanted “positive” ties with the US, the administration had to improve its relationship with the Palestinians.

He also made his position on settlements clear: “If the expansion was illegal, moving into territory that was not their territory, I think withdrawal from those territories is appropriate”.

On the other hand, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a recent press interview on Israel’s Channel 2 that the anti-Israel violence in the Palestinian territories stems from the “lack of hope, lack of trust” in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s commitment to a two-state solution.

He said that if peace talks were to resume, it would “give my people hope and nobody would dare go and stab or shoot”.

The Palestinians, meanwhile, seem determined to penalise Israel by, as PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat revealed, reporting each and every crime Israel commits in violation of Palestinian rights to the relevant international bodies, including the International Criminal Court.

More recently, several Palestinian houses in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, Surif, Qabatia and Douma were destroyed by Israel, which demolished 157 houses since September 2015.

But considering that the US is nowadays in the midst of an ugly election campaign, the chances of any serious movement on the Palestinian-Israeli front are remote.

The best the Palestinians can do in the next few months is to improve their support among Westerners through advertising and serious media relations, and through events like the one reported in The Washington Post.

The writer is a Washington-based columnist.