Surfing for Peace

I read an AP story today about 86-year-old Hawaiian Surfing Legend Dorian Paskowitz.

It’s the story of a Jewish retired doctor who has written books about surfing and health issues, who returned to Israel today to hand out some boards to Palestinian kids who could not surf because they didn’t have any surfboards. He gave 15 boards in all to the kids at the Erez crossing between Israel and Gaza in what he called his “mission” to bring Israelis and Palestinians together.

According to the story, Dr. Paskowitz’s project was part of a larger effort known as “Surfing for Peace” and was rumored to be bringing the world’s greatest surfer 8-time world champ Kelly Slater to Israel in October this year.

Paskowitz is a WWII Navy veteran who had first gone surfing in Israel in 1956 when he had unsuccessfully attempted to join the Israeli Military during the Israel-Egypt war. It was here that he first witnessed the magic of surfing in the war-torn region.

And maybe, just maybe, an entire generation in that troubled land will catch Dr. Paskowitz’s wave and the world will be a better place for it… thanks to surfing.