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Ramallah marathon supports people with special needs

February 17, 2014 at 11:14 pm

A marathon has been run in Ramallah to raise funds to help Palestinians with special needs. The event took place on Friday 18 November and attracted many participants, including young people with special needs; it was sponsored by Hyundai Motors International in cooperation with the Ramallah Municipality. Club runners and students from across the occupied West Bank descended on the city to take part.

Mamoun Balo of Jericho Youth Club won the race for which he received a prize of $3,000; Hyundai Motors donated $60,000 to Yasmine Charity for Special Needs. In second place was Tamer Abu Samman, also from Jericho; he won $1,000.


According to Hussein Al-Araj, the head of the Palestinian President’s Office, the marathon was organised following a directive from President Mahmoud Abbas. “This is a very important section of the Palestinian community which needs support,” he said.

The general manager of Hyundai in Palestine said that all companies have a responsibility to support people with special needs. “We have a duty to make them feel like anyone else as much as we can,” said Ayman Sonoqrut, “because when we do this, the whole community benefits.” Mr Sonoqrut added that this was just the beginning of Hyundai’s involvement in humanitarian projects. The company, he said, has just placed Palestine on its list of places requiring special corporate responsibility in the Middle East.