Pilgrims on the run – 4K dash from Bethlehem to Jerusalem

Hundreds of Israelis, Palestinian and foreign runners took part in a peace run from Bethlehem to Jerusalem’s Ophel Garden on Sunday.

Twenty-five runners from different countries — including members of the Vatican soccer team — ran alongside Israeli and Palestinian participants from the Nativity Church in Bethlehem via Rachel’s Tomb to the Ophel Garden and the Huldah Steps at the southern wall of the Old City of Jerusalem.

The foreign athletes were among the 1,000 Catholic pilgrims from Italy in Israel this week to participate in the Pope John Paul II Games.

The Pilgrimage Marathon for Peace, held for the fourth year, was sponsored by the Israel Ministry of Tourism, the Jerusalem Municipality, the Israel Olympic Committee and at the initiative of Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi, the pilgrimage organizer attached to the Vatican. It aims to encourage peace in the region and promote Catholic pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

For the first time since the games began seven years ago, this year security officials allowed Israeli participants to enter Bethlehem, which is under the control of the Palestinian Authority.

“It was surreal,” Ian Cohen, one of the Israeli runners who began the 4-kilometer race in Bethlehem, told AOL News. “There were Palestinian policemen lining the entire route and they did everything they could to protect us.”

At the end of the run a festive ceremony was held with Catholic clergymen, Tourism Ministry officials and ambassadors on hand.

Tags: 10K, Bethlehem, Israel, Jerusalem