A group of Palestinian young men have turned to parkour to overcome the obstacles of life on the Gaza Strip, .
“Other than the siege and the difficult situation, there is a war every so often,” Mohammed Al Jakhbeer told The New York Times, “and shelling this game makes me forget all of these things.”
Abed Allah Enshasy first learned about parkour on TV, then recruited two others. The team trains by watching YouTube videos when they can get electricity.
Gaza's social conservatism prevents its only parkour players from taking their game to the streets, so the three friends practice amid the ruins of the Jewish Gush Katif settlement, The New York Times says. But they have begun to build an online presence and connect with other players through Facebook, MySpace, and .
“God willing, we will find someone to sponsor us,” says Mohammed Erkayek, “and that will help us get out of here.”
–Nick Davidson