Surfing for Peace in Gaza

Hawaii Surfer Donates Boards for Gazans

U.S. surfer Dorian Paskowitz, 86, foreground, from Hawaii carries two surfboards that are part of a personal donation to Palestinian youths in the Gaza Strip, at the Erez Crossing, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2007. Paskowitz believes surfing can bring peace to Israelis and Palestinians and he's come here with boards to press his point. Paskowitz arrived at the Erez crossing into Gaza on Tuesday to hand over 12 surfboards he is donating to Gaza's small surfing community. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov) (Tsafrir Abayov - AP)

JERUSALEM -- An 86-year-old Jewish surfing guru from Hawaii is bringing good vibrations to the impoverished Gaza Strip.

Dorian Paskowitz, a retired doctor who has been surfing for 75 years, donated 12 surfboards to Gaza's small surfing community on Tuesday in a novel gesture to promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

God will surf with the devil if the waves are good," Paskowitz said. "When a surfer sees another surfer with a board, he can't help but say something that brings them together."

Tanned and shirtless, Paskowitz emerged grinning at the Israel-Gaza border crossing after handing over the dozen boards to Palestinian surfers waiting on the other side.

He said he was inspired after reading a story about two Gaza surfers who could not enjoy the wild waves off the coastal strip because they had only one board to share between them.

So I said to my son 'come, we'll go to Israel and get them some boards,'" Paskowitz told AP Television News.

He described his mission as a "mitzvah," Hebrew for a "good deed."

During his visit, Paskowitz said he wanted to "do something spectacular, like getting all the surfers and paddling around into the waters of Gaza." But those plans were scuttled because of security concerns.

Arthur Rashkovan, a 28-year-old surfer from Tel Aviv, said Paskowitz's project was part of a larger effort called "Surfing for Peace," aimed at bringing Middle Eastern surfers closer together. He said eight-time world surfing champion Kelly Slater, who is of Syrian descent, is expected to arrive in Israel in October to take part in the drive.

"We want Palestinians to enjoy the surfing experience. We believe it brings people together," Rashkovan said. "The idea is for people to forget about the violence and follow the journey to peace on the waves."

Paskowitz is venerated by Israeli surfers as the man who brought the sport to the Jewish state five decades ago. Rashkovan called him a "guru" to Israeli surfers.

Paskowitz said he first arrived in Israel in 1956 during a war between Israel and Egypt. He tried to join the Israeli military but was turned down. So he surfed off the coast of Tel Aviv instead, he recounted, and was mobbed by Israelis charmed by the strange sight of a man riding the waves standing upright on a board.

The father of nine served in the Navy during World War II, practiced family medicine for more than half a century and has published books on surfing and health. He said he has surfed for 75 years all over the world, and he ranks the waves off the Israeli and Gaza coasts as among the world's best.

"I'm 86 years old. I can't stand up very well, I have a piece of titanium in my hip. But I still love it," he said.

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Why not? Surfing has a LONG history of being a peaceful sport, catching the waves, the image of the kick-back surfer. Since Hamas has taken over the beaches are safe and crowded. People choose on their OWN to reach out in peace, I say Mahalo to Mr. Paskowitz and others.

Young men explore freedom atop the surf along Gaza's coast

Lying on his battered board, he scanned the horizon. The turquoise water glittered in the midday sun.

Moments later, he caught a wave, effortlessly.

Back at the shore, Ahmed Abu Hassan, a 28-year-old Palestinian, pulled his board from the water and walked along the Gaza beach where green Hamas flags competed for space with red and yellow umbrellas. It looked as if Islamic militants and ice cream vendors had engaged in a turf war over the golden sand.

"It's a joy," said Hassan, a taciturn and graceful surfer.

If surfing is a quest for freedom, nowhere is such a pursuit more relevant than in Gaza -- an overcrowded, poverty-stricken strip of land on the Mediterranean controlled by Hamas and cut off from the rest of the world by Israel.

"Gaza is like a prison," said Bashire Watfa, owner of the Al Shira (or the Sail) beach cafe. "There's nowhere to breathe except the beach."

Rival Palestinian factions recently fought running street battles among the scarred apartment blocks that tower over downtown Gaza City. After weeks of bloodletting, Hamas prevailed over the more secular Fatah forces. In response, Israel quickly shut down its border crossings with Gaza, allowing only limited international aid to enter.

For the surfers of the Gaza Strip, the popular Al Deira beach is a refuge where catching the perfect wave trumps politics.

"We go to the beach to forget about the suffering," said Mohammed Juda, 20, who surfs with his brother, Wadia, 15. The Juda brothers, who paddle out into the surf every morning at 6, wore identical blue T-shirts and black bathing shorts.

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