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The Atlanta Constitution · Atlanta, Georgia · 27 July 1996

CP-1996-007

Major strides

Competing in the Olympics for the first time, Palestinians hope to erase some of the negative images from the past.

Mark Sherman, Staff Writer

Major strides — The Atlanta Constitution, 27 July 1996
The Atlanta Constitution · Atlanta, Georgia · 27 July 1996

Transcribed from the clipping

“Majed Abu Maraheel is not worried about medals. He could not care less about the track conditions. He has no problems with the heat. The Palestinian flagbearer in last week’s Opening Ceremony holds no illusions about his ability to compete with the world’s best 10,000-meter runners. Maraheel’s only concern was making it to the Olympic stadium in time for his qualifying heat Friday, when he became the first Palestinian to compete in the Olympics under his own flag. ‘We already won the gold medal by being here,’ he said.… Maraheel is a member of Force 17, the security unit that guards Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The group also has been identified by the CIA and State Department as being responsible for terrorist activities in the occupied territories, and one in Cyprus, since 1985. Maraheel rolls up the right sleeve of his T-shirt to reveal a 3-inch scar that he said came from an Israeli bullet. Yet the Palestinian presence in Atlanta ‘will help heal wounds and erase some of the sour images of the past,’ he said… Added his Israeli counterpart, Efraim Zinger, ‘We hope we’ll be able to contribute something to relations in our region.’… Maraheel and Ehab Salama, a 5,000-meter runner from Gaza, are the team’s only athletes in Atlanta. Palestinian officials said a third athlete, boxer Rashid Judeh, was barred from competing here by boxing officials who said he lacked sufficient international experience. The size of the first Palestinian squad is due in equal parts to the virtual lack of athletic facilities in the West Bank and Gaza and to Israel’s refusal to allow Palestinians who claim Jerusalem as their address to compete in the Olympics… They put on spiked track shoes for the first time 15 days ago. ‘In Gaza, we ran either in sneakers or barefoot,’ Salama said. Describing the difference between practice facilities in Atlanta and the Gaza Strip, Maraheel said, ‘It’s like from heaven to Earth.’ Salama, wearing sandals to an interview, nursed a painful-looking sore on his left foot. But his teammate said the wound would not keep him out of the race. Said Maraheel, ‘Even if it was amputated, he would run.’”

Context added by this archive

The same runner as the Index Journal four months earlier, spelled Maraheel here and Abu Marahil there. Both spellings stand as printed. The section header reads PALESTINIAN DELEGATION and the paragraph about Force 17 and the CIA sits between the scar and the healing. Photo credit: Rich Addicks / Staff.

Cite this item

"Major strides," The Atlanta Constitution, 27 July 1996. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1996-007. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1996-007

Elsewhere in the archive

This record is part of Covering Palestine, an archive of American and Anglophone newspaper clippings about Palestinians, 1812 to 2022. Researched and assembled by Maria Robles.

The clipping belongs to the newspaper that printed it, or to the wire service that supplied the copy. It is reproduced here for research, criticism and commentary. The city is derived from the masthead, not read off the clipping.

Something wrong here, or something you know about this clipping? The archive is still being built and corrections are wanted: maria@rozumstudio.com, quoting CP-1996-007.

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