In Gaza, parkour brings youngsters a taste of freedom

Using crutches, Palestinian Mohamed Aliwa (pictured) leaps from one concrete slab to another, determined that his missing leg won't stop him doing parkour, a sport that brings respite from grim reality in Gaza.

The Palestinian teen's right leg was amputated near the knee in 2018 after he was hit by Israeli army fire during protests along the fortified border separating the Gaza Strip from Israel.

Along with his lower leg, he lost his dream of being a professional parkour athlete, he told AFP. But watching his friends jumping from obstacle to obstacle, the 18-year-old, who now sometimes makes use of a prosthetic limb, decided that his disability shouldn't bring his moves to an end.

Parkour, an extreme sport also known as free-running, originated in France in the 1990s. It involves navigating urban obstacles using a fast-paced mix of jumping, vaulting, running and rolling.

In Gaza, young people have been practising parkour for years. But even the easiest jump carries risks, and that is why Jihad Abu Sultan, 32, opened what he says is the "first parkour academy in the Palestinian territories", with the support of French sporting goods giant Decathlon.

"I started doing parkour in 2005," he said at his club in Al-Shati refugee camp, near Gaza City. "At the time, we didn't have a dedicated space, we trained in cemeteries and on the ruins of buildings destroyed by Israel".

Abu Sultan says that the sport was practised by individuals on an ad hoc basis until two months ago, when he came together with fellow enthusiasts to establish the club, which they call "Wallrunners".

It teaches the sport "in a safe way, far from the dangers of the street," he told AFP. It has a modest budget but already has some 70 members, including seven girls, who can jump from one wooden block to another, perform somersaults and swing on parallel bars. On the ground are rubber mats, to soften falls.

For some, Parkour shines a ray of light into what is a dreary existence. "For a generation of young Palestinians who have grown up in a flood of under-employment, it has become a method of self-expression, an escape, and a way of life," says the Wallrunners website in English.

The club is due to hold the first parkour competition in Gaza in February, if restrictions linked to the novel coronavirus pandemic allow it.

Parkour is young, dynamic, and subversive. A sport that is perhaps custom fit for places like Gaza, and the energy, creativity and resilience of its youth.