A Road Race Where the Winner Isn't Important

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (April 25) -- Usually athletes compete against each other. But in today's Bethlehem-to-Jerusalem run, the hundreds of participants -- Italians, Palestinians and Israelis -- couldn't care less who won. Their goal was to show that sports can help bring peace.

"In sports there are rules but you also have to know how to give and take," Rose Cohen, an Israeli runner and member of the Jerusalem Running Club told AOL News. "In that way sports can contribute to making peace."

The Peace Run is part of the JPII Games 2010 (named after former Pope John Paul II) and today brought more than 1,000 Italian Catholic pilgrims to Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

For the first time this year, since the games began seven years ago, Israel allowed Israeli participants to enter Bethlehem, which is under the control of the Palestinian Authority, to begin the race from the traditional birthplace of Jesus, the Church of the Nativity. Since the second intifada began in 2000, Israel, fearing for its citizens safety, has not allowed them to enter Palestinian-controlled cities including Bethlehem, Ramallah and Nablus.

This year, the Palestinian and Israeli security forces worked together to make sure there were no incidents.

"It was surreal," Ian Cohen, one of the Israeli runners who began the 10 kilometer race in Bethlehem, told AOL News. "There were Palestinian policemen lining the entire route and they did everything they could to protect us."

The first three kilometers went from the church to the crossing point, where a festive ceremony and volleyball match was held. Hundreds of participants signed a joint proclamation calling for the faithful around the world to visit the Holy Land and work for peace and coexistence.

"The former John Paul II built bridges rather than walls and that is what we are doing here today," said Father Jacques Amateis, 70, who has lived in Jerusalem and now Bethlehem for 50 years. "Peace has to come from the people. This is a good chance to show the politicians that the people on both sides want peace."

The ceremony was held near the controversial barrier that Israel is building in and around the West Bank. In Bethlehem the barrier is a large concrete wall and to some of the participants the wall made it hard to see a peaceful future.

"I was curious to see the wall and to try to understand how a wall can be built in 2002," said one of the Italian pilgrims Patricia Benvenite. "I don't think today will make much difference but it's still nice."

After the ceremony at the crossing, the participants ran another seven kilometers to the Old City of Jerusalem. Tomorrow, they will inaugurate the Gospel Trail, a bicycle trail that runs from Nazareth to Capernaum. They will also celebrate Mass in five boats that will be anchored on the waters of the Sea of Galilee.

The Peace Run came as a very different kind of march was being held in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. Dozens of extreme Israeli rightists waving Israeli flags marched through the neighborhood in an attempt to demonstrate Israeli sovereignty over all of Jerusalem. Clashes broke out between the marchers and dozens of masked Palestinians in the streets, who lit tires on fire and hurled stones at police officers.

Tourism Minister Stas Misezhinikov, who attended the Peace Run, compared his event to the extremist march in Silwan.

"Unlike provocative political initiatives such as we have seen in Silwan this morning, the unique sporting event that took place at the same time in Jerusalem contributes to coexistence, and promoting pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and to peace and dialogue between peoples."

Lillian Jaar, a Palestinian mother of two who brought her daughter to the event, said that Israelis and Palestinians know that there is much to overcome before there will be peace between them.

"This is a small step, but all of these steps eventually add up," she said. "I pray for the day when Palestinians can freely go to Israel and Israelis can freely go to Bethlehem. Then there will be real peace."