INSPIRATIONAL AUSTRALIAN WOMEN
Running a marathon in Palestine BY HOLLY TELFORD
Isolated in your house? Imagine being isolated in your country without being able to walk 42 kilometres freely. It is 2016 and I am sitting in a local café in Sydney with my Dad trying to understand the conflict between Palestine and Israel. This understanding from the outside is something I never managed to grasp. I was forever curious and asking my Dad, who had been in that part of the world, to explain what is going on. He is very invested in the ongoing conflict and up to date with the latest news. His best attempts to explain it would leave him frustrated at the oppression, and I was left curious and confused. It was settled with a mutual decision the best way to understand - was to go there and see the country first hand. Two years on and its 2018 when I visited Palestine for the first time, following a holiday in Lebanon and Jordan with Dad and two English friends. Throughout the south of Lebanon we came across Palestinian refugee camps, where we learnt about the war between Lebanon and Israel. It was made clear to me the Lebanese people did not share the same view of the situation as the Israelis. The Lebanese people referred to all occupied Israeli land as ‘Palestine’, out of respect for the 7.2 million Palestinians who have been displaced and forced to seek refuge in surrounding countries due to the ongoing occupation. On our first day in Palestine we entered the West Bank and walked through the city of Bethlehem (a tourist hotspot for pilgrims). We were feeling hungover from a big night of sinking beers in Jerusalem. Within the first couple of minutes a sobering and overwhelming feeling came over us with the realization the Palestinian people are not free to leave. They are trapped by eight meter high cement walls (much like the Berlin wall). Along the walls, we saw graffiti from many locals and foreign artists, including world famous Banksy. We read stories of local people sharing love and helping each other out as humanly possible, throughout unimaginable circumstances. These stories of the community coming together made the
whole situation for us as visitors to this city, feel far too privileged in our lives. One story was about the men coming together at night to build a house outside of the walls, so they could go to their day jobs on the other side. The Israeli Army deemed them unable to work unless they had a house in Israel, so the all the men of the community snuck out and built a house in one night. The Israeli Army destroyed it the following day, which left us wondering about the denial of human rights. We read many stories like this and spoke with the local people. We came to the conclusion these are ordinary people trying to work to support their families and just wanting basic human rights. We stumbled upon Banksy’s hotel, The Walled Off Hotel. It was covered with his art and had a hugely informative museum, which explained the occupation from the local’s perspective. The hotel was staffed by locals, and has the best hummus I have ever tasted! I brought a DVD from the museum; a documentary by Palestinian local Emad Burnat called Five Broken Cameras. It was filmed on the frontline of demonstrations, where he witnessed loved ones die or be severely injured; he himself was injured, ended up in hospital and was imprisoned for demonstrating. That night we found a restaurant near Bethlehem square. We were treated like royalty in the local pita house! The staff were so welcoming. On our second day in Palestine we headed out in the morning for some local coffee in Bethlehem square and decided on breakfast back at last night’s pita restaurant after the service and staff had been so kind. As we were leaving Palestine that day, we hovered by “Jesus’ birthplace”, and in some ways, were disgusted and offended to see so many tourist buses piling through the city coming to worship, completely disconnected to the surrounding oppression the Palestinian people face. We walked through the city looking at more art by Banksy. We felt sad
18 THE LAST POST – 2021 TENTH BIRTHDAY EDITION
Hi I’m Holly
I am 26 and work as a Registered Nurse with Justice Health. I grew up in, oh so cold Canberra and relocated to Sydney five years ago to study nursing. I enjoy keeping active and play AFL locally and continue to run along the coastlines of Sydney. I am grateful for the opportunities life has presented me, particularly the opportunities to travel and to better understand different cultures. I hope my story gives you some insight into a country that you otherwise may be unfamiliar with, from a perspective I feel privileged and saddened to have experienced. I also hope you can appreciate the vulnerabilities and hardships the Palestinian people are facing in everyday life, which has been intensified by a pandemic. I challenge you to reflect upon this and find gratitude within your own life. Enjoy! Hols because we were able to leave Palestine so freely. It felt completely unfair for us to be able to walk through the gates and to the other side of the walls. We bypassed mums holding babies, with children and families lining up for permits. They may have been waiting for days to get out with a permit, possibly for something as mundane as a hospital appointment. We had the privileged of just walking out, bypassing all the lines. This privilege did not sit well with us. Our road-trip out of Jerusalem and down to the Dead Sea was quiet and full of reflection. We saw posters about a Palestine marathon; the four of us joked, we should come back and do this next year. Then the joke became reality. Between April 2018 and March 2019, I took up running! I had never been a runner, it began with three kilometers and then five, then the City to Surf, then Blackmores Half Marathon. Before I knew it, I was running from Maroubra to Bondi and back every weekend, I was averaging about 30 kilometers a weekend. My motivation was Palestine. I was running on 30-degree summer days, baking my skin red, but I felt privileged. I have the freedom to go to the beach. I have the freedom to run near one of the most beautiful coastal
