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“3, 2, 1, to Jenin (Palestine) Yalla Run!”

At last! The Run Across Palestine arrived Wednesday at Canaan Fair Trade headquarters near Jenin in the Palestinian West Bank following an ultra-marathon that covered over 100 miles in five days. The six U.S. runners, Claire Everhart, Meryl Marsh, Randi Lyn, David Gardner, Timothy Young and Chris Treter — and media team including Aaron Dennis, Jacob Wheeler and Aubrey Parker and musician Joshua Davis — battled nagging injuries, mountainous terrain, fatigue, and hassling by the Israeli military on Day 1, but made it. A joyous celebration ensued Wednesday afternoon between the American runners and their Palestinian hosts.

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Joys and Pains on the Run Across Palestine

Cultural differences, confusing politics, military checkpoints, consoling worried family back home. Think that’s tough? Not compared to a five-day ultra-marathon across mountainous country with roadsides often strewn with loose rocks or garbage, and cars not used to seeing runners.

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Promoting Palestinian art and folklore

On Monday, Day 3 of the Run Across Palestine, Michigan musician Joshua Davis, Aaron Dennis and I got to visit a dance troupe, art and folklore center in Ramallah — the de facto capitol of the West Bank — called El-Funoun, which is keeping Palestinian art and creative expression alive as a form of protest against the occupation.

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Political art sends clearer message than 1,000 speeches

The Run Across Palestine team marveled at the graffiti and protest art that covers the east side of the wall — reminiscent of the Berlin Wall, and they lamented having to say goodbye to their Palestinian support staff, who were not allowed to enter Jerusalem because they don’t hold Israeli citizenship.

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Israeli military stops Run Across Palestine on Day 1

The Run Across Palestine had gone no more than 10 kilometers between At-Tuwani and Beit Omar, in the southern West Bank, when the Israeli military and border control stopped the run in its tracks. Confusion over whether the runners had the right to walk on the side of the road culminated in the arrest of Run Across Palestine supporter Nasser Abufarha and two French activists. No reason was given for the arrests, and no reason was given for why the run was stopped.

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Planting trees, singing and dancing in At-Tuwani

Today we planted olive trees, and tomorrow we’ll begin running across Palestine. Through both acts, we hope to enlighten our countrymen in the United States, and the world, about the humanity and the struggles faced by the West Bank’s embattled olive farmers.

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Planting our children’s olive trees

This morning, before we departed Bethlehem and the West Bank to return to Jerusalem, Run Across Palestine coordinators Timothy Young (from Honor, Michigan) and Vivien Sansour took half an hour to plant an olive tree in Sansour’s back yard — a vista that looks out over Bethlehem and stretches into Israel proper.

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Michiganders cross wall to Run across Palestine

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Aaron Dennis and Jacob Wheeler are in the “Holy Land” to document the Run Across Palestine, a philanthropic venture organized by a team of northern Michiganders who will run 129 miles over five days across the West Bank.

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Running with the People and the Olive

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“The olive tree plays a very important role as a symbol of our perseverance,” said Vivien Sansour of Canaan Fair Trade and a Run Across Palestine coordinator. “Planting an olive tree is a huge message of hope. When you plant an olive tree, you’re planting a vision for the future.”

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