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I will be running the Manchester Marathon on Sunday 27th April to raise funds for Amos Trust. This small charity works with Palestinian partners who run community programmes to promote resistance to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. Amos Trust's work raises awareness about the devastation of the genocide in Gaza and the impact of home demolitions, land confiscations and the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank. (see more details about Amos Trust's work below).

The Palestine Marathon, which starts and finishes in Bethlehem, should be happening on Friday 25th April - an event which draws many Palestinians together to run any distance a 5K up to a full marathon. Due to the increased restrictions imposed by the Israeli state since October 2023, and the Israeli army attacks on communities in the West Bank, the marathon has been cancelled again as it was in 2024. In March 2022 I ran the half marathon on Palestine marathon day. It was a very powerful experience as part of the route takes you along the apartheid wall which cuts through the West Bank. At mile 8 the route meets checkpoint 300 where runners turn to head back towards the centre of Bethlehem.

In recent years Amos Trust has organised Run The Wall to encourage runners all over the world to run in solidarity with Palestine over the same weekend as the Palestinian marathon. Unusually, Manchester marathon is coinciding with Run The Wall weekend this year. It felt like an opportunity to raise some funds for the work Amos Trust has continued to carry out whilst genocide rages in Gaza and the annexation of the West Bank has continued apace.

Key Amos partners: In Gaza -

*The Gaza Sunbirds - a team of amputee cyclists (most of them lost a limb during the Great March of return in 2018, shot by Israeli snipers). They cycled around their communities in Gaza city delivering food parcels until they had to move south to Rafah where they have continued to make deliveries in extremely dangerous circumstances.

*Al Ahli Arab Hospital - the first hospital to be bombed in October 2023 where 471 people were killed, it still continues to shelter and care for its community in adverse

In the West Bank -

*Alrowwad Cultural and Arts Society, based in the Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem, it provides comunity arts projects to empower children and women, they summarise their work as 'beautiful non-violent resistance.'

*HIRN (Hebron International Resource Network) which supports the small villages in the south Hebron Hills (Masafer Yatta). The rural communities there are under regular attack from the army and armed settlers.

Your donations will support the continuation of such projects and continue the work of solidarity with the people of Palestine. Here is a link to Amos Trust https://www.amostrust.org/palestine-justice/run-the-wall/

Thank you

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