20,000 run in Jerusalem marathon despite PLO boycott call

About 20,000 runners set off on Jerusalem's third annual marathon on Friday, with 1,000 police deployed to provide security along the route, police said.

"One thousand police are in place to prevent any incidents," spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP, adding that the event got under way without any hitches.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation had called for a boycott the marathon, part of which runs through annexed, mainly Arab east Jerusalem.

The PLO appealed to "all participants and sponsors of the International Jerusalem Winner Marathon to withdraw their sponsorship and participation or else become complicit in covering up Israel's grave human rights abuses in its occupation of the State of Palestine." The race has participants from 52 countries running in either the full 42-kilometre (26-mile) marathon, the half marathon or a 10-kilometre dash. It starts at the Israeli parliament and follows a hilly course, part of which goes through east Jerusalem including a short stretch inside the walled Old City. Unlike the stormy conditions of last year, this Friday morning in Jerusalem was mild and dry.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the rest of the world.

The Jewish state considers Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital, a claim not recognised by the international community. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state.

AFP