A Monday running event in Jerusalem to include half-marathon distance and 5-kilometer runs is drawing the ire of some Palestinian figures who are describing it as a purely political move to establish "facts on the ground."
Najah Bahirat, president of the Koran academy at the Al-Aqsa mosque and one of the senior Palestinian public figures in Jerusalem, claimed that the Jerusalem run is part of Israel's "Judaizing" policy, and is intended to deliver a political message that Jewish religious and historical sites are located within the Old City walls beside which the runners will pass. "This is the danger," Bahirat told the Falastin (Palestine) newspaper.
Bahirat accused Israel and all Israeli institutions in Jerusalem of trying to alter the character of the city in violation of international agreements.
He termed Israeli activity in Jerusalem as "racist," and "an unrelenting war," which is to be responded to by strengthening the Palestinian connection to the Al-Aqsa mosque.
Ahmad Abu-Halabiya, a Hamas member of the Palestinian parliament, called on Palestinians to forcibly resist the "Jew's break-in attempts" at Al-Aqsa.