The King Of The Gaza Skate Scene
As the only one able to do a 180 power slide, 19 year old Mohammed Yusri is the King of the Gaza skate scene. It's a strange setup. Seven boys spend every afternoon at the quarter pipe in Khan Younis, an overcrowded town twenty minutes from Gaza City. That's far in Gazan terms; the entire strip is 41 kilometers long. If the current Israeli siege continues, most of these kids will never leave these 41 kilometers in their entire lives.
In Gaza, the skateboarders don't talk about sneakers. They skate. They're not very good, and some of them wear sandals on their feet, but they skate. They have time to come to the ramp as often as they do because they have little else to do. Even if they study, the fact that they can't leave Gaza means that almost 40% of school leavers, including those with an education from one of Gaza's three universities, spend each day doing absolutely nothing, except surfing the web and hanging out with friends. Except, for some of them, smoke hash, of course.
The Israeli siege on Gaza, which tightened after the election of Hamas in 2006, and took the Gaza strip by force in 2007, means that Palestinian planes cannot fly in the Gaza sky, boats cannot go further than three nautical miles, and only with permits which are difficult to obtain, a few Palestinians can leave Gaza through the Erez crossing controlled by Israeli, and crossing into Egypt is not an easy feat – the Egyptian regime does not hide their disgust for Palestinians. Israel also does not allow any building materials into Gaza, or medical equipment and medication – all this comes from NGO's or through the tunnels.
Anyway, this all means that jobs in many industries just don't exist. But I digress, although I think it was necessary. There is a graff piece on the wall in the background of the skate ramp, and if you sit on the floor, and just look at the feet, or the two boys with skate sneakers donated from London, and the boards, you could be in Berlin or Los Angeles. As you look further up, you see the white and red 90's kneepads, and the constant bailing, and the look of newfound joy that only comes with new skaters. They can drop in, but so far, that's about it.
Not bad, though, for kids who saw a skateboard for the first time in their lives a month ago. This little cemented basketball court where the ramp stands is the only place the boys practice since the roads are mostly gravel, or if they are tarred, marred with potholes.
So getting some speed is a bit tough.
Mohammed is psyched to have me there. “Don't forget to film my power slide,” he insists. He also handstands on his board like a champ.
Brazilian Enrico, from the NGO SkateJam, was mainly responsible for building the ramp, with local Palestinian youth, and getting the scene started. The kids are in awe of him. He is know trying to build a ramp in Ramallah, in the West Bank.
The youth are now left, with the help of You Tube videos, to develop their skills themselves.
Mohammed has found sincere joy in skating, and freedom in a place that is known to many as the biggest open-air prison on earth. In this way, the true nature of skating, in it purest form, has been revived, in the most unlikely of places.
photos: Anne Paq/ActiveStills