268 Miles of Escapism

Jan 12, 2024

I’m preparing to run 268 miles on Sunday, in one of the toughest races in the UK, if not the world. But for me, this is about much more than a race

“But that’s an argument for destroying the whole of Gaza, every single building”, exclaimed the LBC interviewer.

“So, do you have another solution?”, asked Tzipi Hotovely, Israel’s ambassador to the UK¹.

2.3 million people lived in Gaza. Over the last 3 months, at least 1% of them have been killed, and a further 2.5% have been injured². For those still clinging to life, conditions are beyond dire. The lucky ones who made it to UN refugee camps in Rafah find themselves sharing a single toilet with at least 486 other refugees³. That’s quite the loo queue.

Starved of food, water and shelter, denied basic hygiene and medical care, exposed to disease, and bombed from the air; how much longer can they survive?

Tzipi asked for another solution… how about a ceasefire? So we can truck in fuel, water, food, shelters, clothes and medicine. So we can dispatch search-and-rescue teams. So we can bury the bodies and mourn the dead. So we can stop a genocide.

Palestinians have been living under apartheid-style occupation for many decades⁴. October 7th didn’t arise from a vacuum. I cried for the Israelis killed, injured and kidnapped in that horrific attack on Israel. Then I cried for the same number of Palestinians killed in the immediate military response. It was an eye for an eye, or so it seemed at first.

It rapidly became clear there was to be no proportionality to the retaliation. We passed 10x the Israeli death toll, and still it escalated. Rumours from in and around the Israeli government seemed to suggest a desire to remove the entire Palestinian people from Gaza^5,6, in what would surely be considered ethnic cleansing. Meanwhile, health facilities⁷, schools⁸, refugee centres, journalists and community leaders were hit increasingly frequently in what might have been targeted attacks⁹, while the north of Gaza was largely reduced to rubble, rendering it virtually uninhabitable. Humanitarian and aid agencies warned of mass dehydration, famine, and disease¹⁰. Well over a hundred UN workers were killed³, white phosphorous munitions deployed¹¹, and Gaza invaded, with the results predictably grim. There was even a documented case of the shooting of three Israeli hostages waving white flags¹².

Today the known Palestinian death toll is estimated to be somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000, but ultimately unknown and unknowable. Some 355,000 residential units are destroyed or damaged, including 80% of buildings in the north¹³. 60% of Gazans are sheltering in UN facilities¹⁴.

Over the past months, I have written letters to my MP. I have signed petitions. I have protested locally, and in London. I have run for Gaza and donated race winnings to Medial Aid for Palestinians. And it’s all felt utterly hopeless.

Meanwhile, my government parrots the same tired rhetoric that Israel must “take every available precaution to protect innocent civilian lives”, while continuing to enable its actions behind the scenes, such as abstaining on UN votes for a ceasefire^15,16.

At the time, ActionAid responded: “With aid operations no longer able to meaningfully function anywhere in the territory and infrastructure on the brink of collapse, now is the moment for international action. The scenes in Gaza have rightfully been described as apocalyptic. How much more death and destruction will it take before leaders put humanity first and decide enough is enough?”

A placard at the London protest that reads: "Who the f**k votes no ceasefire?!?!?"

Personally, I’ve found the last 3 months to be mentally exhausting. While the International Court of Justice considers South Africa’s case for genocide, I really need a break. A nice, week-long, mind-clearing getaway from the whole agonising ordeal.

Thank goodness for the icy flagstones, waterlogged bogs, -11°C temperatures, and 268 painful miles of Britain’s most brutal race, the Winter Spine.

It’ll be my holiday away from genocide.

I can’t wait.

Continue reading: Part 1: The Spine: My Legendary Triad

References

The post 268 Miles of Escapism appeared first on The Trail Explorer.

268 Miles of Escapism

I’m preparing to run 268 miles on Sunday, in one of the toughest races in the UK, if not the world. But for me, this is about much more than a race

References

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