Surfing in Israel-ruled Palestine

Louise Roug (latimes.com, 7-29-07); CC Liu, Sheldon S., Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly

In Gaza, surfers find peace and freedom riding the deep blue...like we do in the US.

 

Can you believe the new burkinis? - No.

GAZA CITY, Palestine — The surfer paddled out from the shore.
 
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 though 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 only we could be friends like this at home!

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 Al Shira (The Sail) beach cafe. "There's nowhere to breathe except the beach." More

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