Inas Nofal 15, is the only female runner in the Gaza Strip. She training for the Bethlehem marathon on April 1. (Hazem Balousha/The Washington Post)
MAGHAZI, Gaza Strip — Every morning as the sun rises over the Mediterranean Sea and light begins to flood this coastal enclave, Inas Nofal is up, dressed and ready to go out for her daily run.
While this might not seem unusual for someone training for a competition, the sight of Nofal, 15, running up and down the streets of the refugee camp where she lives in loose fitting, modest looking running gear and a hijab, is singular.
She is Gaza's only competitive female runner.
Since the militant Islamist movement Hamas took over the strip in 2007 and barred mixed groups of men and women in many public activities, female athletes have faced wide-ranging restrictions. Girls rarely participate in sports, and if they do it is behind closed doors.
A marathon scheduled to take place here in 2013 was cancelled by the United Nations because Hamas would not allow women to participate.
Nofal, the youngest of four sisters, initially started running in a closed stadium but ventured out to run in the streets last December.
[Meet the history-making Olympian who called out SXSW for telling her to remove her hijab[1]]
At first she faced verbal abuse from people shocked to see a young woman exercising in public. But support from her family, particularly her father — who rides alongside her in his car — spurred her on. Now the taunts have turned to support and admiration.
Gazans are realizing this young runner is serious and talented.
"I started running in school, in my sports class. One of my teachers saw me and told my father, who supported me, then I found myself in this kind of sport," Nofal told The Washington Post in a recent interview. "My family, and especially my father, have helped me to keep on going until I reached the point of being the only female runner in Gaza."
Her father, Mohammed Nofal, said his support for his daughter is not even a question.
"I love my four daughters and I see the life through them. Inas has chosen to be a runner, so I am standing with her till the end," he said.
Before Hamas took over the strip, female athletes in Gaza were viewed as pioneers. The runner Sanna Abubkheet was one of only three athletes — and the first and only woman — to represent Palestine at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
[Half a year after devastating war, life in Gaza seems worse than ever[2]]
Nofal is also hoping to compete, despite the obstacles she faces. Her actions have inspired other young women to join her in her training, albeit in the stadium for now.
This Friday, she is scheduled to participate in a 10-kilometer race in the West Bank city of Bethlehem but is still waiting for a permit from Israeli authorities to leave Gaza. The event is part of the fourth annual Palestine Marathon, an event arranged by the Palestine Olympic Committee and the Right to Movement organization, among other groups.
"Inas is the best runner in Gaza at the moment," said her coach, Sami Nateel, a former runner who has participated in many local and international competitions.
"She won the last running competition we had here, and she has ambition to continue," he said, adding that Nofal is hoping to represent the Palestinian team at a meet in Russia in June.
Read more:
Gaza's incredibly high unemployment rate is leading one couple to crowdfund their wedding[3]
Israel says war in Gaza was moral and deaths are the fault of Hamas[4]
References
- ^ Meet the history-making Olympian who called out SXSW for telling her to remove her hijab (www.washingtonpost.com)
- ^ Half a year after devastating war, life in Gaza seems worse than ever (www.washingtonpost.com)
- ^ Gaza's incredibly high unemployment rate is leading one couple to crowdfund their wedding (www.washingtonpost.com)
- ^ Israel says war in Gaza was moral and deaths are the fault of Hamas (www.washingtonpost.com)
