Mary al Atrash, the Palestinian swimmer, finished third in her heat in the 50 meter freestyle yesterday in Rio but her time wasn’t good enough to enter the semifinals. And despite a propaganda explosion by Israel, Atrash could not train at a full-sized pool in Jerusalem because checkpoints would have made the trip too difficult and time consuming to even try.

Palestinian swimmer Mary al Atrash, 22, is one of six Palestinians competing this year in Rio as part of the largest delegation Palestine has ever sent to the Olympics Games. Al Atrash will compete in the 50 meters freestyle, but her training has been difficult due to the fact that she does not have an Olympic-size pool to train in. Nearby Jerusalem has better facilities, including several Olympic-sized pools, but because of the Israeli occupation al Atrash is unable to travel to Jerusalem to train.

Thousands of Palestinians, mainly citizens of Israel, participated in the annual “March of Return” for the Nakba commemoration on Thursday, May 12. For the first time the Association for the Defense of the Rights of the Internally Displaced organized the march in the Naqab. The location on the lands of the destroyed village of Wadi Zabala was symbolic, and highlighted the on-going Nakba of the Palestinians.