Fatah spokesman: Israel is “falsifying the facts… to prove the unprovable: that Jerusalem is Jewish”
“Fatah spokesman in Jerusalem Raafat Alayan said that the marathon set to take place tomorrow, Friday, in Jerusalem, ‘had no other aim than to realize a political agenda of Judaization,’ and that the participation of several countries in the marathon perpetuates the Israeli policy. In a statement to the press on Thursday, he explained that with this marathon, Israel is trying… to impose the Israeli narrative and the Biblical names disseminated by the occupation municipality. Alayan added that in order to realize this, Israel is seeking to replace the names of Jerusalem’s streets and landmarks with Hebrew names, and to prove that Jerusalem, both East and West, is the united capital of the State of Israel, according to Israel – especially considering the fact that [the marathon] will cross the streets of West and East Jerusalem, and will pass through the quarters of the Old City, according to the published map of the marathon route. [Alayan noted that] it was stated on the map that ‘[the marathon] would pass through 3,000-year-old sites in the history of Jerusalem, whereby Israel is acting to falsify the facts in an attempt to prove the unprovable: That Jerusalem is Jewish’… Alayan noted that the choice of Friday for the occupation activity, and the deployment of 1,000 policemen and 600 civilian security guards was meant to prevent [Muslim] worshippers from reaching the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque for the Friday prayer, especially considering that Israel had announced the closing of dozens of roads and traffic arteries during the marathon, which will be held during the Friday prayer.”