Some 650 runners ran in the West Bank's first ever marathon Sunday. The first internationally recognised Palestine Marathon set off from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and led through the hilly streets of and birthplace of Jesus. Most runners were Palestinians, but about a third came from 28 countries around the world, said the Danish organisation, the Right to Movement, which organised the event.

Winners were Abed El Naser Awajneh, who finished first in the men's marathon with a time of 03:09:47, and Christine Gebler, who won the women's marathon with a time of 03:36:37, both Palestinians. As many 37 per cent of the runners were women, the organisers stressed.

Earlier this year, the Gaza Marathon, organised by UNRWA, the UN agency that cares for Palestinian refugees, was cancelled because Hamas, the radical Islamist movement ruling the strip, refused to allow women to participate.

"We did this to tell a different story than the one of conflict and war, and I think I can safely say that we were successful," said Signe Fischer and Larke Hein, two Danish women who conceived the event.

Hein and Fischer earlier said the marathon idea came when they were brainstorming on developing a cultural exchange between Palestine and Denmark. They wanted to show that Palestinians were "perfectly capable of hosting an international marathon."

Copyright Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 2013