Gaza Surf Club gets delivery of 23 new surfboards
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Gaza Surf Club : photo courtesy Surfing 4 Peace
Efforts Successful After Two Year of Denied Entry
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, U.S.-Based non-profit Explore Corps and Surfing 4 Peace successfully delivered 23 surfboards to the members of the Gaza Surf Club, a community-based surfing project in the Gaza Strip. Since 2008, Explore Corps and the Surfing 4 Peace community have negotiated with the Israeli Border Authority for permission to enter the boards into Gaza.
The boards, donated by Gaza Surf Relief, were repeatedly denied entry due to the ongoing embargo against the coastal territory but this week were granted permission after intensive negotiations.
Surfing 4 Peace is an international community of surfers and supporters who aim to bridge political and cultural barriers in the Middle East through the shared surfing experience. Explore Corps is a U.S.-based non profit dedicated to designing, implementing and operating unique youth education initiatives based around outdoor education, sports and the arts.
Explore Corps initiated and co-founded the Gaza Surf Club together with the surfers of Gaza in the spring of 2008, using surfboards donated to the Gaza surfers by Surfing 4 Peace in 2007.
Matthew Olsen, founding director of Explore Corps commented: “It’s incredible to think that it has taken two years of constant negotiations to get these surfboards into Gaza. But the tremendous effort that it took is all worth it when I think about how these surfboards are going to change the lives of these young men.â€
Arthur Rashkovan, who co-founded Surfing 4 Peace in 2005 agreed: “Over the past two years I’ve though about these boards every day and how much I want our friends in Gaza to ride them. Now it’s done! The next mission is to surf with them together, maybe in Israel, maybe in Gaza, maybe in California, who knows? Regardless of where it happens, I can’t wait for the next S4P mission!
The bulk of the surfboard donation was assembled by Gaza Surf Relief, a project of the Levantine Cultural Center in Los Angeles California and includes 15 brand new surfboards donated by Global Surf Industries. The shipment of surfboards also includes two hand-crafted surfboards created by Donald Printup of San Luis Obispo, California and a board for Gaza’s first female surfer, Rawan Abo Ghanem, courtesy of Surfing 4 Peace and Renee Johnson.
Word of the delivery of surfboards quickly spread throughout Gaza’s small surfing community and Gaza’s surfers assembled at Sheik Hazdien Beach, in southern Gaza City to receive their surfboards and wearing Surfing 4 Peace t-shirts. For the first time, the surfers in Gaza will each have their own surfboard, rather than sharing 5 or 6 used boards that they had managed to assemble.
Gaza Surf Club member Mohammed Abo Jayab expressed his thanks on behalf of all the surfers. “Today starts a new life for the surfers of Gaza. We express our sincere thanks to Gaza Surf Relief and the donors, and of course to Surfing 4 Peace and Explore Corps for making this all possible. Your generosity and hard work will never be forgotten.â€
Visit the Gaza Surf Club online at gazasurfclub.com. The Gaza Surf Club is an Explore Corps project. It is not, and does not claim to be, an official club of the Palestinian Authority and does not represent surfers in Palestine as a whole.
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