NEW DELHI: Surfing, in any part of the world, can be a dangerous activity. The sea off the coast of Gaza, however, is inhospitable in a unique way. Long stretches of the beach smell like sewage after Israeli bombs damaged the wastewater system in 2014. Enter the water and the situation gets more perilous -- Gazan fishermen are only allowed to go up to three nautical miles offshore, and are routinely shot at or detained by the Israeli navy.
Despite the above, the sea off Gaza remains the one of the only ‘open’ spaces that the people of Gaza can enjoy. A small group of Gazans, known as the ‘Gaza surf club’ are changing how the people in the besieged city enjoy the sea.
(Image credit: Gaza Surf Club)
(Image credit: Gaza Surf Club)
“I play this sport since I was 12,” says Taha Baker, 26 years old, known among his friends as “the dolphin”. “This is the only way I can express myself freely” Taha told 7iber.com. Five years ago Taha’s cousin was killed next to him while the two were out fishing; he was shot at from an Israeli boat. “The navy boat came and without saying, for example, ‘go south’ or ‘this area if forbidden,’ they didn’t say anything. They just shot immediately,” Taha told the Global Post.
(Image credit: Gaza Surf Club)
Hailing from a family of fishermen, the incident motivated Taha to turn to journalism focusing on documenting the perils of life on the sea in Gaza. In his spare time, Taha follows his passion: surfing.
(Image credit: Gaza Surf Club)
It hasn’t been easy for Taha, or any of the others, to follow what is a unique hobby in Gaza. He started out trying to surf on a broken door when he was nine years old -- it, unsurprisingly, sank. Next he tried the door of a broken fridge -- better, but it didn’t move. “I asked my father more than once for a surfboard but he couldn’t get me one because there weren’t any in the Gaza Strip,” Taha told the Global Post.
When Taha was 17, an American journalist who had come to write on the war found him on the beach. The journalist, who was surprised to see a young man surfing in Gaza, collected donations to buy Taha and the four or five other young Gazans who had taken to surfing boards and wetsuits.
(Image credit: Gaza Surf Club)
(Moody and Belal with visiting journalist Pilar Cebrian in Gaza. Welcome Pilar!. Image credit: Gaza Surf Club)
It took five years for the equipment to make it to Gaza after it was shipped, with the blockade on Gaza resulting in the equipment being impounded in Israel. Political will and perhaps most importantly, media attention, led to the equipment finally being allowed in.
(Image credit: Gaza Surf Club)
By this time, the handful of Gazans who had taken to surfing had taught others, and the number had risen to 33. The Gaza Surf Club even has a Facebook group.
(Image credit: Gaza Surf Club)
(Image credit: Gaza Surf Club)
Taha has chosen to paint the Palestinian flag on his board. My dream is to represent my country in foreign countries and prove to the whole world that we are people who love life and there is no difference between us and America or the UK or Israel in education or potential, but we have a lack of capacity because of the Israeli occupation,” he told the Global Post.
(Image credit: Gaza Surf Club)
The Israeli offensive in the summer of 2014 impacted Taha’s life, as it did every other Gazans. The four young boys killed on the beach during Operation Protective Edge were relatives from another branch of the family.
And yet, there is hope, determination and a resolve to not leave the besieged city. “I don’t want to travel to work. If I travel it will be to send a message that there is surfing in Gaza, to represent my country in sports or to represent my country by showing violations of Israel against the fishermen maybe through short films… Other than that I don’t want to go out don’t want to immigrate and live elsewhere and forget my country and marry someone from outside. I want to continue like anyone else from this country,” Taha says to the Global Post.
(Image credit: Gaza Surf Club)
Pictures from the Gaza Surf Club Facebook page