In recent weeks a spate of unique and inspired initiatives have emerged to facilitate peace in Palestine at grass roots level, and while many have originated from Israeli and Palestinian groups, the latest has arrived from the U.S., courtesy of Hawaiian surfing aficionado, Dorian ‘Doc’ Paskowitz.

Touched by a story in which young Gazans expressed their passion for surfing as a means to escape daily strife, the 87-year-old wave guru rustled up the support of Israeli companies and donors to buy fifteen surfboards for Palestinians in Gaza.

According to Paskowitz, the idea emerged after seeing a picture of “two surfers in Gaza with a stinking board,” and he concluded that “if guys can surf together they can live together, it is as simple as that.”

Widely held as one of surfing’s top gurus in America, Paskowitz took to the board seventy-five years ago. Today, he and his surfing brood of eight sons, one daughter and numerous grandchildren, have been dubbed the “first family of surfing”, with the Paskowitz summer camp providing training for surfers since 1972.

He hopes to organise surfing competitions off the Mediterannean coast of Israel and Gaza within the next three years in order to bring the two sides closer: “When a surfer sees another surfer, he can’t help but say something that brings them together.”

Paskowitz is not alone: Seweryn Sztalkoper, a Polish-born Californian, has been equally captivated by the Gazan surfing duo and has since initiated a non-partisan relief drive for donations of used/new surfboards and equipment to Gaza.

In an interview with Arabisto, Sztalkoper elucidated the initiative’s objectives:

I think it’s important to implement this, because not only does it spread an amazing feeling, but it can get youth surfing rather than being a possible victim elsewhere. I knew there was surfing in Israel, but also in Gaza? So, it was after reading how they just want to surf and they actually pay to rent boards that I thought, we need to spread that surfing stoke and send some boards over there, because I know for a fact that people have tons of boards that they can part with, especially for a cause like this. We hope to collect 25-30 surfboards and equipment over to Jerusalem, have an NGO take on the shipment, transport it to Gaza, and distribute it.

And so the cause was born. Action, however, was somewhat more complex. Establishing a thread on the internet forum A Small World, Sztalkoper came into contact with Haithem el-Zabri, who – coincidentally – used to live in Los Angeles and worked with the same organisation Sztalkoper currently volunteers, the Levantine Cultural Center. Currently, el-Zabri is now a part of this project and searching for an organisation in Gaza to collect the surf boards.

The official website, Gaza Surf Relief, launched earlier this month. Sztalkoper’s goal is to collect at least twenty-five surf boards, leashes, replacement fins, warm water wax, rash guards and duct tape. Donations for bubble wrap are also being accepted, while monetary donations can be sent to the Levantine Cultural Center (where all contributions are tax-deductable).