U.S. surfer promotes Israeli-Palestinian peace

By Ori Lewis

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An octogenerian American surfer hopes to get Israelis and Palestinians on the same wave by sending surf boards to the Gaza Strip.

Dorian Paskowitz, an 86-year-old physician, says the idea came to him after he watched a television program in the United States which showed Gazans using broken surf boards because they could not buy new ones.

Paskowitz launched the "Surfing for peace" project on Tuesday together with the "One Voice" organization which aims to help moderate Israelis and Palestinians promote peace.

"Surfers are ambassadors of health and well-being and they are also men of peace," Paskowitz said.

The Californian, who has been surfing for over half a century, donated a dozen boards to Palestinians on Tuesday and says he hopes to be able to bring Israeli and Gazan surfers to a joint event in Israel in October.

Palestinian surfer Ahmad Abu Hussaili and others managed to meet Paskowitz, his son David, and other delegation members inside the Erez Crossing terminal building, where they had a chance to thank them for the boards.

The Paskowitzes emerged bare chested from the meeting at the main civilian crossing point between the two territories, after also giving their shirts to the Gazan surfers.

Abu Hussaili went straight out onto the water to try his new board. He said he would love to leave Gaza to surf elsewhere if he could.

"I would not stay in Gaza because there are no organizations that have interest in things like surfing and water sports," he said.

One Voice's Gaza representative, Moffak Alami, said surfing was "a way to build bridges between people who speak the same language."

Israel largely sealed off the Gaza Strip after the Islamist group Hamas completed a bloody takeover of the coastal territory in June, routing the rival Fatah faction.

Gaza's unspoiled beaches are considered ideal for surfing and many Israelis used to ride the waves there before Israel pulled out its 8,500 settlers and troops some two years ago, ending 38 years of occupation.