A week or so back I mentioned a piece in The National about an international effort to get surfboards to Gaza that was being blocked by the Israelis. I looked into the story, and spoke with the guy who has led the effort, Seweryn Sztalkoper of Santa Monica, California. So, what’s the story?
Sztalkoper is 25, a Polish-born analyst at a hedge fund (whose family emigrated to the U.S. because of its connection to a Holocaust victim), a Muslim, and a surfer. Sztalkoper is hip; he has studied the Palestinian issue, but doesn’t like to get into arguments about it; and a couple years back when he read a piece in the LA Times by Louise Roug about surfing in Gaza–yes, journalism matters–he decided that this was where he could make his mark, something positive. Here’s Sztalkoper on his Pacific patio below. And here’s his website: Gaza Surf Relief. He started approaching surfing companies and other surfers.
The typical attitude of surfing moguls and surfers (as opposed to media moguls and journalists) was: Those kids need surfboards, let’s get ‘em to them! A lot of guys gave Sztalkoper old boards, and a surfing magnate named Mark Kelly shipped him 15 new boards.
Sztalkoper teamed with a Jew in Israel, Arthur Rashkovan, and an American diplomat’s son, Matt Olsen, and last year–thanks to DHL, which contributed to the cause–they got 25 boards or so to Tel Aviv, where Rashkovan could store them. And not just boards, but wet suits, rash guards, and surfing logos. "All the accessories, to become a traditional Southern California-like surfer," Sztalkoper says.
Then the problem was getting the boards into Gaza. The boards were turned away again and again at the Eretz Crossing. The boards were deemed a security risk by the Israelis. Sztalkoper got this message from his friend Matt Olsen:
"I just got off the phone with a former colleague of mine who is one of the main players in the security establishment here and he just had a meeting with Nir Press, the head of the Civil Administration for Gaza, and they discussed the surfboards. According to him, the civil administration does not have a problem with the boards going into Gaza but the Israeli Navy has vetoed the shipment on security grounds. They are apparently concerned that the boards will be used to infiltrate Israel via the sea. The decision has apparently come from very high up in the Israeli Navy and this is not simply an issue of a local commander expressing his personal opinion.
…I am hopeful that they will be able to get something accomplished. I explained to them that there are already numerous surfboards, windsurfers and small sail boats in Gaza that could be used to infiltrate Israel and the import of more surfboards would therefore not raise the threat level above what currently exists. They will convey this message to the Israeli Navy and we’ll see if it has any effect."
Olsen was able to get four boards into Gaza by carrying them across in his hands. Israeli soldiers sent him along, maybe even knowing what he was up to. Then the Gaza war happened, shutting down the whole effort. Sztalkoper says he’s been told, "We can’t get any in, unless Gilad Shalit is released by Hamas… That’s the word on the street."
And there’s a Palestinian corruption problem. Sztalkoper just wants to get his boards to surfers, but a Palestinian with government connections has been trying to get the boards for himself. "He says you have to have a club officially registered. He says he was the first to register a club, so donations have to go to him…. His intentions are bad, to hold the boards for himself and monopolize the whole surfing scene."
(So let’s not just bash Israel here…) But the big problem is the border. Sztalkoper and his fine finned friends in Gaza have plans to start their own surf club, and register that. Gaza Surf, so that kids like Abdel Rahmal Al Haik, who is pictured at the top of this post, can hang 10 in Palestine. What can Americans do to help?
“He says you have to have a club officially registered. He says he was the first to register a club, so donations have to go to him…. His intentions are bad, to hold the boards for himself and monopolize the whole surfing scene.”
He’d make a good New Jersey politician.
So, Israel evidently has a lower-grade nuclear weapon than the rest of the nuclear-armed world, one that won’t penetrate surfboards and small sailboats. The decision to go with this lower-grade nuclear material was another part of Israel’s humanitarian drive, like dropping a few leaflets in civilian populations warning them that they are about to be bombed back into the Stone Age, which isn’t actually too far from where they are now, though it’s no fault of Israel’s.
That A-rab on the beach with the big ‘Jacks’ weapon* is one very scary looking terrorist. We definitely need to fight them over there because I sure as hell don’t want to have to fight the likes of him over here!
*probably a ‘dirty bomb’
RE: “The boards were turned away again and again at the Eretz Crossing. The boards were deemed a security risk by the Israelis. ”
MY COMMENT: It might not be a good time to surf off the coast of Gaza.
SEE: Gaza sewage ‘a threat to Israel’, BBC News, 09/03/09
***The UN and international aid agencies say Israel must relax its blockade of the Gaza Strip to allow urgent repairs to the water and sewage systems.***
(EXCERPT) In a joint appeal, the bodies say the hazards to health and the environment threaten not only Gaza but Israel too.
More than 13m gallons (50m litres) of raw or partially treated sewage flows into the sea every day from Gaza because of a lack of treatment plants.
The cross-border aquifer is low and raw sewage floats back to Gaza and Israel….
…”The deterioration and breakdown of water and sanitation facilities in Gaza is compounding an already severe and protracted denial of human dignity in the Gaza Strip,” said UN humanitarian co-ordinator in the Palestinian territories, Maxwell Gaylard….
…Israeli officials had no immediate comment to the appeal on Thursday…
ARTICLE – link to news.bbc.co.uk
SEE ALSO – “Gaza: Swimming in sewage”, Ma’an News, 08/03/09
GAZA CITY, 2 August 2009 (IRIN) – Less than 50m from a black, barrel-sized pipe pouring raw sewage directly into the sea, children are playing in the waves.
The pipe runs from one of three main sewage pumping stations in Gaza, with multiple outlets into the sea. The water authority in the Gaza Strip has been unable to import the parts necessary for the maintenance and repairs at water and sewage pumping stations since Israel imposed its two-year long blockade of the territory, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Gaza.
“We know there is sewage in the water, but the borders are closed and we can’t travel,” said Mariam Al-Halu, who brought her two sons to swim. With scorching temperatures and intermittent electricity, many Gazans seek refuge from the heat in the polluted waters, residents say….
ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to maannews.net
That is an excellent point Dickerson, and another might be that they do not want a lot of attention in the waters because they intend to steal the natural resources.
On the subject of Gaza, B’Tselem has just published its casualty figures for the Dec.-Jan. massacre (link to haaretz.com
confirming Palestinian and NGO accounts.
No surfing or surfboards, no turtle wax, no board shorts and no beach balls into Shalit sees red cross and is released.
To be fair and balanced, we should deprive Israel of surfboards, beach balls and settlements until their thousands of political prisoners are released.