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Source: http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Marathon-as-political-warfare-310844
Marathon as Political Warfare
(Jerusalem Post) Dan Diker - The so-called Palestine Marathon took place in Bethlehem this past Sunday. The race organizers and main sponsors - KVINFO, the Danish Center for Gender, Equality and Ethnicity - noted that they "wanted to show that the Palestinians are perfectly capable of hosting an international marathon...free of any political agenda." Yet the Palestine Marathon categorically prohibited runners from Israel from taking part, banning Israeli Jews, Muslims and Druze athletes. Ha'aretz reported that a number of Israeli runners were turned back and their registration fees returned. The Palestinian Authority's marathon policy places them in the company of the Iranian and Syrian regimes, whose sport boycott campaigns prohibit their athletes from competing against Israelis. International standards ensuring equality and separating sports from politics must be upheld. The Association of International Marathons and Distance Races must not allow the Palestinian Marathon committee to hold future marathons if they prohibit Israeli athletes from participating or exploit these international sporting events to engage in political assaults. The writer is a Foreign Policy Fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and former secretary-general of the World Jewish Congress.