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COUNTDOWN: 43 DAYS TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES
For Palestinian distance runner Majed Abu Marahil, winning medals isn't everything. Just participating in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta will be as good as gold for him and the Palestinian struggle.
For years, Abu Marahil trained in obscurity, running along beaches and garbage-strewn roads in the impoverished Gaza Strip, living under Israeli occupation and never dreaming he might one day be the first athlete to represent the Palestinians at the Olympic Games.
Then came the 1993 Oslo peace accord between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, and PLO leader Yasser Arafat returned triumphantly to Gaza in 1994, bringing self-rule and the real hope that Palestinians might one day achieve their dream of statehood.
Now Abu Marahil has been tapped to carry the red, white, green and black Palestinian flag around Atlanta's Olympic Stadium in the opening ceremony of the first Olympics to host a Palestinian team. At least two other Palestinian runners are to accompany him to Atlanta to represent Arafat's fledgling autonomous territory, officials said.
"I don't know if I will be able to carry the flag and keep walking," said the amiable, modest Marahil, 32, a devout Muslim and a father of five who serves on Arafat's elite Force 17 bodyguard unit and is still somewhat awed by his mission to the Summer Games.
"Millions of Palestinian people will follow the flag with their eyes. It's a big responsibility," added the tall, muscular Gazan, whose first love has always been running.
"I just want to prove to the whole world that we, the Palestinians, despite all...