I will confess that I love surfing and that I find it to not only to be a wonderful sport, but also a wonderful way to build camaraderie and a bond with your surf buddies. It relieves stress and often helps you get a proper perspective on things as you are surrounded by the elements, narrow your focus on the waves, and realize your own insignificance compared to the power of the sea. Spend a day in the water with someone and you will always have a special shared experience. Interestingly enough, CNN has a story on a small band of Palestinian surfers who surprisingly enough are getting aid from surfers in Israel. For the Palestinian surfers, surfing offers a short term escape from the often unpleasant lives. For the Israeli surfers, it sends the message that we are all human. Surfing knows no dogma and one is recognized for one's skill and ability. Religion in contrast focuses on differences and the "otherness" of those of different faiths and in the process all too often dehumanize the "other." Would that focus was on our similarities as part of the human family rather than our differences. Religious based hate has caused so much misery over the centuries. Here are highlights from the CNN story:*
In Gaza, a handful of Palestinian men have found a way to escape temporarily from the hardships of life in their conflict-wracked home. They go surfing. Dirt poor and mainly from refugee camps, they find joy riding waves, often on makeshift boards, in the green waters off Gaza's beaches.
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Over the past few years, a number of groups, some based in Israel, have made it their business to try to help the Gaza surfers. Explore Corps and Jewish Surfing 4 Peace have sent surf boards and wetsuits to the 20 or so Palestinian wave riders, hoping to extend the hand of friendship across the bullet-pocked border.
*
U.S. filmmaker Alexander Klein managed to get in to Gaza to film the latest mission, the story of which he tells in documentary "God Went Surfing with the Devil." "It seemed like an important story to tell," he told CNN. . . . "Here was a story about young guys who could have been coming together to shoot at each other, but instead all they want to do is surf together."
*
But the club is about more than just helping a few beach guys have a good time.
Matt Olsen, of Explore Corps, one of the founders of the surf club, believes small acts of friendship, like this, can help the peace process from the bottom up.
"We think that this is a great way to get people to connect and get people to talk," Olsen told CNN.
*
Veterans of the tiny Gaza surf scene have been riding for many years, using anything from 100lb windsurfers with the sails taken off to old broken surfboards with pieces of plywood for fins. Under an economic embargo enforced by the Israeli government, only basic foodstuffs and humanitarian supplies are allowed into Gaza, making it almost impossible for the surfers to get hold of equipment themselves.
*
"They have a real community down there," said Olsen. "It's really wonderful to go there and hang out." The tiny Gazan surf community couldn't be more different from the scene in Israel. Israeli surfer Arthur Rashkovan, one of the founders of Surfing 4 Peace estimates there are some 30,000 surfers in Israel, a tiny land of just over seven million people.
*
In Gaza, a handful of Palestinian men have found a way to escape temporarily from the hardships of life in their conflict-wracked home. They go surfing. Dirt poor and mainly from refugee camps, they find joy riding waves, often on makeshift boards, in the green waters off Gaza's beaches.
*
Over the past few years, a number of groups, some based in Israel, have made it their business to try to help the Gaza surfers. Explore Corps and Jewish Surfing 4 Peace have sent surf boards and wetsuits to the 20 or so Palestinian wave riders, hoping to extend the hand of friendship across the bullet-pocked border.
*
U.S. filmmaker Alexander Klein managed to get in to Gaza to film the latest mission, the story of which he tells in documentary "God Went Surfing with the Devil." "It seemed like an important story to tell," he told CNN. . . . "Here was a story about young guys who could have been coming together to shoot at each other, but instead all they want to do is surf together."
*
But the club is about more than just helping a few beach guys have a good time.
Matt Olsen, of Explore Corps, one of the founders of the surf club, believes small acts of friendship, like this, can help the peace process from the bottom up.
"We think that this is a great way to get people to connect and get people to talk," Olsen told CNN.
*
Veterans of the tiny Gaza surf scene have been riding for many years, using anything from 100lb windsurfers with the sails taken off to old broken surfboards with pieces of plywood for fins. Under an economic embargo enforced by the Israeli government, only basic foodstuffs and humanitarian supplies are allowed into Gaza, making it almost impossible for the surfers to get hold of equipment themselves.
*
"They have a real community down there," said Olsen. "It's really wonderful to go there and hang out." The tiny Gazan surf community couldn't be more different from the scene in Israel. Israeli surfer Arthur Rashkovan, one of the founders of Surfing 4 Peace estimates there are some 30,000 surfers in Israel, a tiny land of just over seven million people.
*
Despite working with the surfers of Gaza, Rashkovan has never met any of them. He has never been across the border. "They cannot get out of Gaza and I cannot get in," said Tel Aviv-based Rashkovan. "Hopefully, one day we will meet and go surfing together."
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