Surfing4Peace Transcends Israeli/Arab Conflict

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In the words of the late Doc Paskowitz People who surf together can live together In episode 23 the co-founder of Surfing4Peace shares how the mutual love of surfing creates bonds that may even for a moment transcend the longstanding conflict between Arab and Jew Arthur Rashkoven shares the amazing story of how he founded Surfing4Peace alongside Dorian quot Doc quot Paskowitz the grandfather of Israeli surfing and how a group of surfers from Tel Aviv managed to gain worldwide attention quot On July 27 2007 The Los Angeles Times published an article by Louise Roug detailing the plight of Palestinian surfers living in the Gaza Strip and forced to share a single surfboard between them Within hours Doc Paskowitz was on the phone with Arthur in Tel Aviv They decided then and there that something had to be done After a few short weeks the team had gathered 14 used surfboards from Israeli surf companies for donation to the small but passionate surfing community in Gaza quot In 2007 Surfing4Peace entered the fortresslike Erez crossing in Gaza to bring surfboards to Arab Surfers That area was a volatile security situation and nobody had been allowed into the Gaza Strip since Hamas took over Since the militant group seized control of Gaza the main commercial crossing has been closed and many local industries have collapsed All of this makes the story of Surfing4Peace even more compelling I apos m Jennifer Weissmann Please join me for this inspiring story it apos s the best ten minutes you apos ll spend today PLEASE LISTEN AND SHARE IT WITH FRIENDS AND ON YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA Transcript Reading Time 3-Minutes https tlv1 fm weekend-edition 2015 05 30 meet-the-israelis-surfing-for-peace https www theinertia com surf how-an-israeli-made-it-his-lifes-mission-to-support-fellow-surfers-in-gaza https surfing4peace org historyhttps www nytimes com 2007 08 22 world middleeast 22mideast html Surfing4peace Klinikatlv