The Tragedy of the 2023 Gaza Nippers Program
From Sydney's Northern Beaches to Gaza
Summary
In 2016 a Sydney Palestine Advocacy Group based on the Northern Beaches had the germ of an idea to build a connection between Australia and Gaza by launching a Surf Lifesavers Nippers Program in Gaza.
They overcame all obstacles including COVID and conflict to launch the first program on Gaza Beach some seven years later in July 2023.
Three months after that the world turned upside down.
This is their story.
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First published: 20th January 2024
Updated: 23rd April 2024 (see version history)
Contents
End Papers
Acknowledgements
In writing this article I would like to thank members of the Northern Beaches Committee for Palestine for their time, in particular Caroline Graham. Also North Steyne Surf Lifesaving Club and President Chris Gibbs-Stewart. Noting many stills in this article from Majed Badra’s documentary “Nippers from Gaza to Sydney” from Comical Dimensions.
Introduction
In 2016 … the Northern Beaches Committee for Palestine had the germ of an idea to build a connection between Australia and Gaza with the dream of launching a Nippers Program in Gaza.
They overcame all obstacles including COVID to successfully launch a Nippers Program on Gaza Beach in 2023.
After asking around a few local surf clubs, the group partnered with Sydney’s Northern Beaches North Steyne Surf Lifesaving Club who kindly came on board to plan the program.
In July 2023 the first Nippers program in Gaza kicked off to great success - a beautiful and successful event, bringing connection and hope to the community of children and lifesavers in Gaza.
Three months later the horrific events of October 7th occurred and in the ensuing bombardment by the IDF of a scale never seen - at least two of the nippers in the program are dead (Update Feb 2024: eight of the nippers now confirmed dead).
It is a story closer to home for many Australians relating to the children as one of their own among the many thousands of innocent Gazan children killed in the conflict to date.
Gaza Beaches
The Gaza Strip sits on the Mediterranean Sea with a 41km long coast and several beaches, the primary ones being at Gaza City with a surf spot near Al Deira beach the home of the Gaza Surf Club.
The beaches of Gaza City offers Palestinians a break from the inner city - and a cool and breeze respite from the regular summer power blackouts of up to 12 hours in periods of high demand1.
With thousands flocking to the beach and a lack of awareness of water safety every year there were a number of drownings.
Northern Beaches Gaza Surf Project
In Sydney, Australia the Northern Beaches Committee for Palestine (NBCP) was formed in 2016 working in conjunction with the Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine (CJPP).
After many years of Israeli blockades conditions in Gaza were grim with high unemployment and mass poverty.
The committee came up with the idea of bringing a Surf Life Saving Club to Gaza based off the Australian model including a Nippers Program.
Introducing such a youth organisation to Gaza would increase safety in the water whilst bringing the community together through sporting and social activities.
They partnered with one of the local Surf Clubs at North Steyne on Sydney’s Northern Beaches to model the Gazan program on North Steyne’s local Nippers program.
What is Nippers?
For those who might not be aware - Nippers is an Australian Institution. An off-shoot of Surf Life Saving Australia essentially community program for young girls and boys to be introduced to water safety through supervised sports sessions at the local beach, invariably on a Sunday morning.
Nippers is a children’s program for kids aged 5 to 14 to introduce them to life saving. It’s a great way for kids to make friends, be active and learn how to enjoy the beach safely.
The program, taught by volunteer lifeguards is about surf awareness and safety.
As they progress through different age groups they undergo lessons in wading, running, ocean swimming, board paddling.
All the kids wear safety clothing
Sun Protection: “rashies” - thin sun resistant long sleeved tops with the surf club logo. The name is a typical Australian abbreviation for “rash vest” since a dual use for the vest is to protect from rashes and stings associated with jellyfish in the waters.
Swimming Caps: traditional tied fabric swimming caps intended to be more visible in the water, invariably written with the child’s name on the side to assist instructors
In the older groups they also learn lifesaving skills and the basics of resuscitation and first aid.
It is a right of passage in Australia to keep your original stretchy child’s nipper swimming cap right through to being an adult life saver!
The famous race pictured above is the flag race - nippers lie on the beach face down and the lifesaver blows a whistle. The kids have to get up, turn around, and race down the beach to dive to the ground and grab a flag - with of course much less flags than there are kids, squealing with delight!
A fantastic community program bringing together everyone through sports and social healthy activities with a strong safety aspect necessary for Australia’s beaches and the model for the program in Gaza, delivering similar benefits.
WW2: Australians on Gaza Beach
Interestingly, there is already a connection between Australia and the beaches of Gaza.
During World War II between 1940 and 1942 some 2000 Australian troops were encamped near Gaza Beach. They organised a big surf carnival there during this period2.
General Thomas Blamey donated prizes and surfing equipment was sent from Australia. The open surf race was won by Max Rose of North Narrabeen Surf Life Saving Club, and his son Alan Rose was a recent President of the club3.
Stage 1: 2019 - Training in Australia
The Gaza Surf Project was planned in four phases
Stage 1: Selection and Training of Gazan Lifeguards, brought to Sydney
Stage 2: Pilot Programme back in Gaza with limited equipment
Stage 3: Season Launch back in Gaza with more equipment (tents, flags etc.)
Stage 4: Building of Surf LifeSaver Club facility on Gaza Beach
For stage 1 a local student Shamikh Badra from Gaza himself joined the NBCP and worked with the group to identify the best candidates to learn life saving.
Shamikh helped select two municipal Gaza Beach lifeguards (Mohammed Saleh and Hasan Alhabil) to come to Australia for training with a view to setting up a SLSC back in Gaza.
The preference would have been for a male and a female lifeguard to come to Australia, but a female would have had to be chaperoned and with visas being difficult enough it was not possible to arrange.
Unfortunately this was a major factor in the Project being unable to receive Government funding assistance4 so the group had to raise all monies themselves.
In November 2019 after FOUR YEARS and several false starts the men came over to Sydney as guests of North Steyne Surf Club on Manly Beach.
Mohammed and Hasan trained for three months with North Steyne SLSC5. The President of the Club Chris Gibb-Stewart said dozens of members had volunteered to assist their Gaza guests.
After months of training - Mohammed earned a Surf Rescue Certificate and Hasan his Bronze Medallion.
Early February 2020 the men returned to Gaza with a view to setting up Gaza Beach Surf Lifesaving Club with continued support to get equipment across to the club.
Appreciating the difficulties of sending articles to Gaza, the men packed their suitcases filled with North Steyne rashies, nipper caps and surf lifesaver tops for the club to get the ball rolling.
2020-2021: COVID and Conflict
Back in Gaza … as they planned to start up the club…. COVID transmitted around the world and into lockdown.
Suffice to say the project was effectively delayed for another two years.
A pilot was due to start in May 2021 - but a heavy bombardment of Gaza that year also stopped the pilot from proceeding6.
Stage 2: July 2022 Pilot
Finally - in the Gazan summer of July 2022 a pilot program was run on the beach to great success as a precursor to the following season’s launch.
Stage 3: July-Aug 2023 Launch
There was much preparation and July 2023 was the OFFICIAL launch of the first Nippers Season with more equipment sent out including a beach tent.
It was a fantastically fun launch to the first Nippers season.
And then it wasn’t.
October 2023
The world turned from October 7th with a horrific attack on the Israelis followed by an unprecedented and ongoing retaliation. The invasion began in the North of Gaza near the beach resorts which were some of the first areas to be hit with horrendous destruction.
As at 12 Dec 2023 sadly two of the Gazan nippers pictured below were confirmed dead7. (Update Feb 2024: Now eight of the nippers confirmed dead).
Tragedy struck closer to home also.
Sydney Gazan Surf organiser Shamikh had arranged humanitarian visas for his parents to escape from Gaza. Due to lack of consular assistance8, they were unable to get permission to cross over into Egypt at the Rafah crossing. Shamikh’s father, unable to access proper medical attention, unfortunately passed away in the interim.
The Future
It is unclear what will be next whilst the current conflict rages on. There were future plans to raise funds in Stage 4 to build a surf life saving club on the beach - but it is unclear even how much is left of the infrastructure around the beaches. There is also potentially a bigger issue regarding future use of the beach front.
As the situation in Gaza unfolds an unpleasant reality is taking hold. Earlier in the conflict there was initial trolling by pro-Israeli development companies teasing at beachfront settlements in Gaza9. As the months moved on - this has become a serious possibility10.
Politics are unavoidable here.
In addition to noting the current right-wing Israeli Government’s attitude to settlements. There was actually a “resettle Gaza” conference in February attended by 1/3rd of Israeli Cabinet Ministers dancing at the end of the Conference. This is off the back of UN Security Council Resolution 2334 in 2016 declaring settlements illegal and demanding Israel cease. Since then this Israeli Government responded by actually enshrining the goal of settlement in law in 2018 and there has been an exponential rise in settlements on the West Bank.
It would seem that intention may extend to Gaza in particular beachfront under the guise of rebuilding11.
Regardless - the days are too early to consider.
When day to day survival is a struggle in an ongoing conflict zone after many months the thoughts of a surf club are far from people’s minds.
It was so upsetting to see the death of nipper children in Gaza and it is unclear how many more there might be amongst the nipper children and volunteer lifeguards also killed so dire is the situation there.
After seeing the program’s successful rollout, full of hope and building a connection between Sydney’s Northern Beaches and Gaza - the images of the dead nippers brings a very relatable tragedy home to Australians. A small substory in the overall crisis.
We can only hope for the safety of the remaining nipper families and volunteers, never mind the broader Gazan population and a ceasefire in Gaza.
EPILOGUE: Escape from Gaza
After months of searching finally the Northern Beaches Committee for Palestine heard from one of the lifeguards Mohammed in February.
With conditions deteriorating the NBCP decided to act to assist Mohammed and his family escape Gaza.
Funds were raised for an Egyptian border crossing and transferred to Gaza (no mean feat) and flights arranged with the assistance of the Arab Council.
The Government have been no help at all and the group are again writing to Penny Wong to update.
As at April 2024 the Mohammed and his family are awaiting confirmation when they are on the list to cross at Rafah.
Appendix: Gaza Nippers Videos
2022 Nippers Pilot (Credit: Majed Badra at Comical Dimensions):
2023 Nippers Launch (Credit: Majed Badra at Comical Dimensions):
Version History - Article Updates
First published: Jan 20th 2024
Last Update: 23rd April 2024
Sleekit Scotsman ☮️🏴 articles are updated periodically to add latest information on the subject of the article for relevance
Updates
23rd April 2024
added Epilogue
END PAPERS
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References
Al Jazeera 27 August 2023 “Palestinians flock to Gaza’s beaches to bid summer holidays farewell” - https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/27/palestinians-flock-to-gazas-beaches-to-bid-summer-farewell
ABC News 24 Apr 2020 - “Anzacs abroad: Forgotten treasures of the Matson collection“ - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-24/remarkable-photos-of-anzacs-in-the-middle-east/12175100
The Quest for Palestine’s First Life Saving Club - Northern Beaches Committee for Palestine leaflet 2022
DFAT Council for Australian-Arab Relations (CAAR)- https://www.dfat.gov.au/people-to-people/foundations-councils-institutes
The Guardian 19 Jan 2020 “From Gaza to Sydney: the quest for Palestine's first surf lifesaving club“ - https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jan/19/from-gaza-to-sydney-the-quest-for-palestines-first-surf-lifesaving-club
UN Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights 3 Nov 2021 - “The Humanitarian Bulletin | Gaza after the May escalation - November 2021“ - https://www.ochaopt.org/content/humanitarian-bulletin-november-2021
Gaza Surf Project Facebook 12 December 2023 - https://www.facebook.com/GazaSurfProject/posts/pfbid02NqaiSwEa1bq6DeEC6h13WGByQiEhvUyHvAuy8mwYycvFdQSBLMDmRWaswsf93t2el
Palestine Justice Movement for Sydney 15 Jan FB Page - Petition for Consular Assistance for Australian Visa holders trapped in Gaza - https://www.facebook.com/PalestineJusticeMovementSydney/posts/pfbid02Yd3AwEUdf5eKcnzboUrYwSoed74C7fcpUFt4hM1VNwFgASEsYC8r48jP1dcMP51wl
Common Dreams Dec 19 2023 “'Cashing in on Genocide': Israeli Firm Pitches Beachfront Real Estate in Leveled Gaza“ - https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-settlements-gaza
BBC 25 Mar 2024 “Jewish settlers set their sights on Gaza beachfront“ - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68650815
The Guardian 20 Mar 2024 - “Jared Kushner says Gaza’s ‘waterfront property could be very valuable’“ - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/19/jared-kushner-gaza-waterfront-property-israel-negev
Well wasn’t it inconvenient? For lots of Israeli women it was for sure. And men. And families.
So inconvenient of Hamas to start a war on October 7.