SKATEPAL
The NGO helping the skateboarding scene in Palestine to fly
Words MIRIAM BOUTEBA
Based in Scotland but operating in Palestine, SkatePal is a charity that collaborates with local organisations (Betongpark.Ltd, Inash AlUsra, The Palestinian House of Friendship and the Asira Al-Shamaliya Council) to grow the skateboarding scene. From providing the boards and teaching classes to the construction of largescale ramps, its activities are funded through direct donations and some very tasteful merch. We sat down with SkatePal founder Charlie Davis, photographer and trustee Maen Hammad, and local manager and photographer Aram Sabbah, to find out why skateboarding matters in Palestine.
How did SkatePal come about?
CHARLIE DAVIS
My parents used to live in Jerusalem and I have some relatives from Palestine so there was always a connection. After school I went out to Jenin to teach English and had my skateboard with me – I met other skaters and it grew from there. I met Aram about 10 years ago at the Sharek Youth Forum in Ramallah where I was doing a mini ramp and we've been friends ever since.
MAEN HAMMAD
For several years I've been helping in any way that I can, helping to run skate classes while Aram was gone and documenting the scene. I'm a lifelong skater and Palestinian so I do it for the cause. Aram is also doing really great work, filming, making clips and ensuring we're in the spotlight too.
ARAM SABBAH
Maen took over from me for the four years I was in Tunis studying – he picked up the scene and put it on his shoulders. And then as soon as I was back he dropped it, “Like bro take it back!” (laughs).
How does it all work?
CD
We're based in Scotland and we have a few staff in London, as well as trustees across the world. Aram and Nejad [Kurdi, co-ordinator and DJ] manage all of the projects and we're now at a point where we're trying to transition to everything being locally run. We won't have international volunteers but instead will encourage people to visit and promote it as a destination as well as raise money in the UK.
SkatePal is super mixed in terms of gender – was that deliberate?
CD
Yeah from the beginning we knew we had to run mixed classes because the club was already mixed. The project that Aram has been leading with a girls' orphanage in Ramallah is specifically focussed on the girls. It's hard because when you get to a stage when you wear the hijab, a lot of girls don't come back to skate, which is up to them and their family but generally, it’s great because the balance of men and women and boys and girls is way higher than back in the UK.
Doing anything cultural that centres Palestine is threatening to the lies that the occupation is built on. What difficulties have you faced because of this?
CD
In terms of coming through Israel, there have been a couple of people who have been denied entry and it’s really hard getting equipment in because you can't easily ship straight to Palestine. Israeli red tape is everywhere and designed to make everything more difficult.
MH
There is no skate shop in Palestine so Aram's apartment has basically become one – volunteers will come with used decks, trucks, wheels. SkatePal is fostering a community of skaters who are supporting a very small scene, so if someone breaks their deck they'll slide into Aram's DMs and ask for help, which is testament to how beautiful and important the cultural part of skating is.
AS
The occupation, by existing and just doing shit every day, hurts us mentally. They've been waging a mental war for over 70 years, so of course it affects the skate scene. It affects everything. They were getting nervous a few months ago, which meant we couldn't go to the park because they closed the roads. They try to do things to stop day-to-day Palestinian life. It’s exactly the same for people who want to play football or anything else. Although, actually, sometimes when I have to cross the border and am carrying a skateboard, the guards react like I'm a tourist but if I didn't have my skateboard, they would treat me like shit.
“PALESTINE IS GOING TO COME UP WITH ONE OF THE RADDEST FUCKING SKATERS”
Skating is often perceived as being radical – is that even more so in Palestine?
CD
It doesn't have any pre-existing baggage because it's just a new game that kids play and when you build the scene around a skate park, everyone can hang out and so it can exist within a conservative Islamic culture. Each skate scene has a different flavour, depending on where it is.
MH
Skating is both an individual and collectivist activity – I don't even want to call it a sport, it's a culture, it's a way to connect people, so it's unique in the sense that I’m skating with the folks in Palestine, rather than me versus them. And that is a really important aspect of community when you're existing in a place like occupied Palestine, where you're being buried alive all of the time. To have an opportunity to breathe, to spend time and empower one another, is really radical. Skateboarding is a powerful escape.
Where do you see the sport going in Palestine in future?
MH
There's so much room for it to be really exceptional and that's testament to SkatePal, Aram and everybody who's had a helping hand in this. I was in Palestine in January and stumbled upon a new crew of young teenage skaters in a parking lot and that's what creating the skate scene is like, you know? They’re shaping their own little world that's going to build and build and there's a cool scene being created organically – at this moment this sort of story is happening.
AS
Now we just want to provide for them everything they need to grow. Palestine is going to come up with one of the raddest fucking skaters, everybody is going to see that. People always say kids don't have fear, they develop it, and in Palestine at age 10 you start to fear more – that's the mental war, they’ll arrest you where you stand but if you can develop non-fear through skateboarding, that’s going to be really amazing.
Donate to SKATEPAL
Visit SKATEPAL
Visit ARAM SABBAH
Visit MAEN HAMMAD
SKATEPAL
The NGO helping the skateboarding scene in Palestine to fly
Words MIRIAM BOUTEBA
Based in Scotland but operating in Palestine, SkatePal is a charity that collaborates with local organisations (Betongpark.Ltd, Inash AlUsra, The Palestinian House of Friendship and the Asira Al-Shamaliya Council) to grow the skateboarding scene. From providing the boards and teaching classes to the construction of largescale ramps, its activities are funded through direct donations and some very tasteful merch. We sat down with SkatePal founder Charlie Davis, photographer and trustee Maen Hammad, and local manager and photographer Aram Sabbah, to find out why skateboarding matters in Palestine.
How did SkatePal come about?
CHARLIE DAVIS
My parents used to live in Jerusalem and I have some relatives from Palestine so there was always a connection. After school I went out to Jenin to teach English and had my skateboard with me – I met other skaters and it grew from there. I met Aram about 10 years ago at the Sharek Youth Forum in Ramallah where I was doing a mini ramp and we've been friends ever since.
MAEN HAMMAD
For several years I've been helping in any way that I can, helping to run skate classes while Aram was gone and documenting the scene. I'm a lifelong skater and Palestinian so I do it for the cause. Aram is also doing really great work, filming, making clips and ensuring we're in the spotlight too.
ARAM SABBAH
Maen took over from me for the four years I was in Tunis studying – he picked up the scene and put it on his shoulders. And then as soon as I was back he dropped it, “Like bro take it back!” (laughs).
How does it all work?
CD
We're based in Scotland and we have a few staff in London, as well as trustees across the world. Aram and Nejad [Kurdi, co-ordinator and DJ] manage all of the projects and we're now at a point where we're trying to transition to everything being locally run. We won't have international volunteers but instead will encourage people to visit and promote it as a destination as well as raise money in the UK.
“PALESTINE IS GOING TO COME UP WITH ONE OF THE RADDEST FUCKING SKATERS”
SkatePal is super mixed in terms of gender – was that deliberate?
CD
Yeah from the beginning we knew we had to run mixed classes because the club was already mixed. The project that Aram has been leading with a girls' orphanage in Ramallah is specifically focussed on the girls. It's hard because when you get to a stage when you wear the hijab, a lot of girls don't come back to skate, which is up to them and their family but generally, it’s great because the balance of men and women and boys and girls is way higher than back in the UK.
Doing anything cultural that centres Palestine is threatening to the lies that the occupation is built on. What difficulties have you faced because of this?
CD
In terms of coming through Israel, there have been a couple of people who have been denied entry and it’s really hard getting equipment in because you can't easily ship straight to Palestine. Israeli red tape is everywhere and designed to make everything more difficult.
MH
There is no skate shop in Palestine so Aram's apartment has basically become one – volunteers will come with used decks, trucks, wheels. SkatePal is fostering a community of skaters who are supporting a very small scene, so if someone breaks their deck they'll slide into Aram's DMs and ask for help, which is testament to how beautiful and important the cultural part of skating is.
AS
The occupation, by existing and just doing shit every day, hurts us mentally. They've been waging a mental war for over 70 years, so of course it affects the skate scene. It affects everything. They were getting nervous a few months ago, which meant we couldn't go to the park because they closed the roads. They try to do things to stop day-to-day Palestinian life. It’s exactly the same for people who want to play football or anything else. Although, actually, sometimes when I have to cross the border and am carrying a skateboard, the guards react like I'm a tourist but if I didn't have my skateboard, they would treat me like shit.
Skating is often perceived as being radical – is that even more so in Palestine?
CD
It doesn't have any pre-existing baggage because it's just a new game that kids play and when you build the scene around a skate park, everyone can hang out and so it can exist within a conservative Islamic culture. Each skate scene has a different flavour, depending on where it is.
MH
Skating is both an individual and collectivist activity – I don't even want to call it a sport, it's a culture, it's a way to connect people, so it's unique in the sense that I’m skating with the folks in Palestine, rather than me versus them. And that is a really important aspect of community when you're existing in a place like occupied Palestine, where you're being buried alive all of the time. To have an opportunity to breathe, to spend time and empower one another, is really radical. Skateboarding is a powerful escape.
Where do you see the sport going in Palestine in future?
MH
There's so much room for it to be really exceptional and that's testament to SkatePal, Aram and everybody who's had a helping hand in this. I was in Palestine in January and stumbled upon a new crew of young teenage skaters in a parking lot and that's what creating the skate scene is like, you know? They’re shaping their own little world that's going to build and build and there's a cool scene being created organically – at this moment this sort of story is happening.
AS
Now we just want to provide for them everything they need to grow. Palestine is going to come up with one of the raddest fucking skaters, everybody is going to see that. People always say kids don't have fear, they develop it, and in Palestine at age 10 you start to fear more – that's the mental war, they’ll arrest you where you stand but if you can develop non-fear through skateboarding, that’s going to be really amazing.
Donate to SKATEPAL
Visit SKATEPAL
Visit ARAM SABBAH
Visit MAEN HAMMAD
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