ALMOST 60,000 people took part in the London Marathon last month. The event — which attracts elite athletes, celebrities, and charity runners from around the world — has raised an astonishing £87.5 million for good causes. As anyone who has ever taken part will attest, there is little to match the sense of achievement at the end of a marathon. Running 26.2 miles is no mean feat. Much as the prowess of the elite athletes is to be admired, the true heroes and heroines are the plodding amateurs, resolutely putting one exhausted foot in front of the other, cheered on by the crowds of spectators (an estimated 800,000 in London) and the festive atmosphere that this creates.
A smaller marathon took place last Friday in a smaller city: Bethlehem. The Tenth Palestinian Marathon drew local and international runners to a race that started at the symbolic heart of the city: the Church of the Nativity. Simultaneously, a smaller 10k race took place in Gaza. The organisers say that 13,000 people participated, 2523 of them in Gaza. One thousand of the runners came from overseas, representing 75 countries. Because of the restrictions imposed by the war in Gaza, this was the first Palestinian Marathon to take place for three years. Given the current situation in the Middle East, the fact that it took place at all feels like a triumph, and one that required an extraordinary leap of faith.
At the very least, it represents a welcome boost to the income of a city dependent on tourism, and devastated economically by the recent conflict. Yet it is far more than that. The footage of the race is poignant: runners follow a course alongside the vast concrete separation barrier that overshadows the city. Competitors, many carrying Palestinian flags, are seen running through the streets of a city hemmed in by military checkpoints: a forcible reminder of the daily restrictions imposed on those who live in the West Bank. In such circumstances, the marathon is much more than a sporting event: it is an act of resistance.
The determination of Jewish settlers to keep building in the West Bank shows no sign of letting up. Last weekend, the BBC reported the case of a man from a village near Jenin who returned home after burying his 80-year-old father (for which he had sought permission from the Israeli military base near by), only to be told that a group of settlers were busy digging up the grave. Distressingly, he and his brothers were forced to exhume their father’s body and take it elsewhere. The world’s attention is largely elsewhere, distracted by the increasingly fraught attempts to end the conflict between the United States and Iran, but the need to find a sustainable peace in Israel/Palestine is as urgent as ever. For this, the qualities of the marathon runner are needed in spades: grit, determination, and an absolute refusal to give up in the face of mind-numbing exhaustion. Blessed indeed are the peacemakers.