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The Fifth Peace Marathon from Bethlehem to Jerusalem Participate by over 1000 pilgrims |
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The marathon, named after Pope John Paul II, will take place on April 18th 2008, with Pope Benedict XVI. Another half-marathon race will take place between Arad and Masada. The fifth Peace Marathon takes place with the cooperation between Israel's Ministry of Tourism and the Vatican's tourist agency Opera Romana. The race will start on Passover eve, April 18th 2008 at 08:00 in Bethlehem, and will end 10 kilometers later at the feet of Jerusalem's Old City. At the end of the race there will be a festive ceremony with the participation of representatives of the Vatican, the Ministry of Tourism and Municipality of Jerusalem. During the ceremony, a message from Pope Benedict XVI will be read. The Peace Marathon brings together pilgrims from Italy and other countries in Europe with runners from Israel and from the Palestinian National Authority in order to encourage Catholic pilgrimages to Israel. European participants will arrive in a delegation of about 1,000 pilgrims headed by Cardinal Ruini from the Vatican, who is among the initiators of this unique sportive-tourism event. The Ministry of Tourism and the Opera Romana agency, with the participation of the Ovunque Viaggi travel agency, have recently initiated another sportive event, during which a half-marathon will take place between the city of Arad and Masada site. The race will start on April 16th at 07:00, leaving Arad's hotel area through a route of 25 kilometers.
Opera Romana is considered the world's largest tourism agency. It operates 6 weekly flights from Italy to Israel. In February 2008 there was a 70% increase in Catholic tourism from Italy to Israel, during which over 5,000 Italian tourists arrived in the Holy Land.
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