Shalom, Doc—Hang Ten!

By Mohammed Omer

Using their new boards, Mohammed Abu Jayyab (l) teaches a younger Gazan to surf (Photo M. Omer).

TEN TOES ON THE NOSE—full speed ahead! “Hang ten” describes a surfer’s euphoria—until recently, an experience available to Gazans only through photographs. But no longer. Retired 87-year-old Jewish-American doctor Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz, a surfer for 75 years and a celebrity as well as an author on the sport, is also the founder of Surfing for Peace (SFP), which seeks to foster solidarity between people and nations through the sport he loves. And what better place to do this than on the beaches of Israel and Gaza, with their wild waves and temperate climate, making them some of the best surfing venues in the world.

Growing up in Texas during the Great Depression, the future surfer and physician convinced his family to relocate to Southern California. After immigrating to Israel in 1956, Paskowitz introduced surfing to Israeli Jews after being rejected by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Hoping to organize a world championship Israeli surf team, he instead mesmerized Tel Aviv beachgoers—and launched an entire new sport and industry. Upon returning to the U.S., Paskowitz, along with his wife and children (nine in all—and all surfers) opened a successful surfing school in San Onofre, near San Diego, which still operates today.

In 2000, this venerable devotee of the curl introduced the sport to Israel’s Arab population. After reading an article in an American magazine profiling two Gazan surfers who share the same second-hand board, the doctor knew what he had to do—get these young men some decent boards.

Paskowitz and Arthur Rashkovan, a Tel Aviv-based surfing activist, were able to convince an Israeli company to donate 15 boards for surfers in Gaza to use. Having secured the boards, Paskowitz, along with one of his sons and a few SFP volunteers, flew to Tel Aviv—only to discover that one major problem remained. Israeli authorities prohibited the young Palestinian surfers to travel from Gaza to Jerusalem to meet with the American. This meant the doctor had to figure out how to get the surfboards into Gaza.

Gaza’s Surfers

“I started surfing nine years ago, on an old surfboard I bought from a second-hand shop in Israel,“ explained 28-year-old fisherman and lifeguard Ahmed Abu Haserah as he sat perched on the shore, whistle around his neck and scanning the waves for anyone in distress.

For Abu Haserah, surfing came naturally. “I learned how to surf by watching it on TV,” he said. “It always attracted my attention when I saw it.”

Out on the water, a solitary figure glides effortlessly atop silver waves amid glistening sun-kissed diamonds of water. As the waves reach skyward, he disappears for an instant, re-emerging as the water crashes on the sands, gathering pebbles as it assails the beach. Paying rapt attention is an audience of families, veiled and unveiled women, men and children, all fascinated by his performance.

Slinging the board under his right arm, 33-year-old Mohammed Abu Jayyab walks out of the surf, all eyes upon him—for he is the first surfer many Gazans have ever seen. Positioning his board firmly in the sand and shaking the water out of his hair, Abu Jayyab saunters up to his lifeguard friend, followed by a growing crowd of children who quickly surround him.

Both men are self-taught surfers. Over the past nine years their love of the sport has led to a unique friendship and the sharing of a single second-hand board. The news of their surfing benefactor’s project fulfills both men’s long-time wish.

“For the past few years I’ve been looking for my own surfboard,” explained Abu Jayyab. “But I couldn’t find one, so I borrow my friend’s. Surfboards are available in Israel,” he added, “but they’re very expensive.”

Like most men in Gaza, Abu Jayyab is currently unemployed. Along with his wife and three children, he ekes out a living in Al Shati, Gaza’s most crowded refugee camp. His surfboard is not only a source of enjoyment, however: Abu Jayyab often uses the long board to fish for his family’s meal or find something he can sell to make money.

Asked why he surfs, Abu Jayyab’s eyes light up like a man describing a woman he loves.

“Surfing allows me to taste real freedom,” he enthuses. “It’s like an addiction.”

Abu Haserah agreed. “I love it,” he said. “Surfing has become my favorite hobby.”

“We live in Gaza,” Abu Jayyab emphasized. “It’s a big prison. We endure sieges, occupation, electricity shortages, poverty, many problems and harsh psychological conditions. Surfing allows me to breathe, to forget the worries and pain of our lives, and enjoy freedom and fun, if only for a few moments.”

“Unfortunately,” Abu Haserah noted, “in Gaza we don’t have any schools or places to train.”

Dr. Paskowitz’s donation could change all that. With the help of Surfing for Peace and the additional 13 boards, Gaza’s surfers will be able to embark on a lifelong dream: establishing the first surfing school in Gaza.

Crossing the Border

Amid razor wire, walls, tanks and heavily armed soldiers, the two surfers, nervous, yet eager—await the arrival of their new equipment. On the other side of Eretz crossing, carrying 15 surfboards, Dr. Paskowitz, his son and the SFP volunteers came face to face with Israeli bureaucracy. As the surfing diplomats attempt to pass, an Israeli soldier bluntly informs Paskowitz, “You cannot go in.”

Later, from Hawaii, Dr. Paskowitz related his experience. He refused to take no for an answer.

“I came 12,500 miles from the U.S. to the Gaza border,” the doctor told the soldier. “You are not going to keep me from seeing those men when I’m only 15 meters away from them!”

At first, Paskowitz recalled, the soldier remained unimpressed. So the American doctor turned to Plan B.

“I grabbed him,” he stated jovially, “and kissed him! Shocked, the soldier started protesting, ‘Don’t hug me! Don’t hug me! I’m a soldier!’” mimicked the chuckling Paskowitz.

This threat of overt friendliness unlocked the soldier’s heart—and the border gate to Gaza. After a two-hour wait, Paskowitz, Abu Haserah and Abu Jayyab finally met.

“When the soldiers let me through at last,” the doctor recounted happily, “that was a great moment in my life.” He did not forget to note, however, that the young men still need two soft-top long boards.

Back on the Beach

Back on the beach and sporting brand-name T-shirts with endorsements by surfing champion Kelly Slater (who is due to tour Israel in October), both Gazan surfers conveyed their deep appreciation of and gratitude to Dr. Paskowitz.

“We feel privileged to have met such a loving man,” a beaming Abu Jayyab said. “He was concerned about us, and his concern was genuine.”

When asked what he hopes to achieve with his generous gift, Paskowitz envisioned a day when the children of Palestine share their passion for surfing with others in the Arab world.

“If [Palestinians and Israelis] can surf together,” he explained, “then they can live together and care about surfing and not wars.”

Abu Jayyab elaborated on his benefactor’s vision: “I wish we were a brotherhood,” he said. “All religions call for forgiveness and peace—not wars. Sport is the mother of nations. It is something that unites us all.”

Mohammed Omer, winner of New America Media’s Best Youth Voice award, reports from the Gaza Strip, where he maintains the Web site <www.rafahtoday.org>. He can be reached at <gazanews@yahoo.com>.