Palestinian Olympic Runner Barred From Bethlehem Race
Israel’s Supreme Court upheld a decision by the Israel Defense Forces to bar a Palestinian runner from Gaza from participating in a marathon in Bethlehem.
In the case of Nader Masri, a 2008 Olympian, the court ruled Tuesday that it could not overrule a military decision. But the court also recommended that Israel consider allowing Masri to leave Gaza to participate in the race, which is being held Friday.
“It is hoped, of course, that in the future the security situation will improve that will allow an easing of such restrictions,” Judge Daphne Barak-Erez wrote in her decision. Masri, 34, was rejected on Friday in his petition to Israel’s military seeking permission to travel to the West Bank for the second Bethlehem marathon. He turned to Israel’s high court through the Israeli human rights group Gisha-Legal Center for Freedom of Movement.
Masri represented “Palestine” in the Beijing Olympics and has represented the Palestinian Authority in several international competitions.
“This marathon is important to me, it will be the first time I can take part in the Palestinian marathon and meet friends I only talk to on the phone,” he said, according to Ynet. “I have crossed Erez numerous times. I am a Palestinian athlete and I have won several awards. I have nothing to do with politics and I do not know why Israel denied me a permit.”
Read more: http://www.jta.org/2014/04/08/news-opinion/israel-middle-east/gazan-runner-barred-by-israel-from-bethlehem-marathon#ixzz2yJ5eEPZ9
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO