The Palestinian community and the Palestinian House in the Netherlands on Saturday organized a bicycle procession in The Hague called for by the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
This symbolic bike rally was staged as part of the Palestinian Nakba anniversary activities and to protest in particular the Italian bicycle marathon (Giro d’Italia) that will start in Occupied Jerusalem.
Scores of Palestinian citizens living in the Netherlands and pro-Palestine activists participated in the rally.
The participants started their rally from the Dutch Parliament Square in The Hague and cycled to the headquarters of the International Court of Justice and then the International Criminal Court before they went back to the square again.
The movement has already urged the organizers of the cycling race Giro d’Italia to “steer clear of apartheid” by relocating the start of its 2018 race from Israel.
The Giro d’Italia an annual multiple-stage bicycle race founded in 1909 has made foreign starts in recent years in Netherlands Belgium Denmark and Northern Ireland. Israel will be the first non-European country to host the start of this race.
The race will start in Jerusalem followed by stages from Haifa to Tel Aviv and the Negev.
The BDS movement called on activists to take action “to stop this sports-washing of Israel’s occupation and apartheid.
“Starting the race anywhere under Israel’s control will serve as a stamp of approval for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. Would the Giro d’Italia have considered starting a race in apartheid South Africa in the 1980s?” the movement said.
BDS also called on the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) the governing body of cycling to take action to relocate the start of the Giro d’Italia cycling race from Israel.
