We write here about fellow cycling and mobility activists ‘Gaza Sunbirds’ who inspired us beyond our conception of resilience, and mobility, and we hope that their story inspires you too.
Gaza Sunbirds
In 2018, the cyclist Alaa Al Dali was preparing for his first international cycling competition, the Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia. This was a rare opportunity for Alaa to see anything outside the besieged Gaza strip that he never left in his life. He was training, preparing his travel permits, and holding onto the hope of raising the Palestinian flag on an international avenue. Five months before the competition, residents of Gaza commemorated the 70th anniversary of ‘Nakba’.
Almost 80% of Gaza’s population are refugees2, from Palestinian villages that were forcibly displaced by Israel in 1948. The descendants of Nakba, under the siege in Gaza, decided to march towards the walls, unarmed, in a peaceful protest that they called ‘The Great March of Return’. Alaa didn’t march there. He cycled and returned injured by a bullet in his leg that led to an amputation of his dream.
In the months after the Great March of Return, Alaa Al Dali faced challenges with the healthcare system and getting permission to leave Gaza for medical treatment. He had to choose between losing his leg or risking his life. The UN reported that the Israeli army used live ammunition against peaceful protesters, causing 1200 life-altering injuries including amputations. The army admitted to intentionally targeting the protesters’ legs.3
Alaa thought he decided that his bike would be part of his rehabilitation, both on physical and psychological levels. He created a para-cycling team called Gaza Sunbirds. Their goal was to help the community of amputees in Gaza become more independent by providing training and second-hand bikes. They also wanted to compete in international para-cycling events.
Hazem Suliman, one of the team members has gone through 5 different amputations on one leg in Gaza and in Egypt and had his hopes shattered for a prosthetic leg. Hazem didn’t know how to cycle one year ago. Now, he can be seen roaming Gaza, cycling with one leg, one hand raised holding his camera, with one of his children balancing on the bike frame. I asked him if he wanted to convey a message to Egyptian cyclists, and he cheekily said ‘I would teach them how to cycle’.
October 2023 – January 2024
On the first days of the 2023 war on Gaza, the Israeli government enforced a total blockade on the already besieged Gaza Strip. In the words of the Israeli minister of defense “There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel – everything will be closed”. This affects 2.2 million unarmed civilians trapped in Gaza under constant indiscriminatory bombardment. We talked to Karim Ali, the team’s cofounder in diaspora who reported about the team’s struggle and actions during the war.
The team put their bikes as valuable assets of mobility in use amid the shortage of fuel. They mobilized a donation campaign to buy from the few available goods under a spike in food prices and delivered it to those who don’t the financial and physical access in the south of the strip. To this day, they distributed 45,000 USD worth of food and aid. The cyclist, Abu Asfour, volunteered to set up a community kitchen and deliver hot meals for the forcibly evacuated families, now living in tents or on the streets.
They do so as they see their hopes and dreams being shattered. The Rashid Street (the waterfront street) where they used to train got destroyed. The place where they keep their equipment got bombed and they lost some of their equipment. However, the biggest loss stays in the loss of family, friends, houses, and neighbors. One of the team members, Abdullah Al Aangar 19, lost his house early in the war. He wrote a touching tribute to what home meant to him. The teammate, Noor Abu Ibrahim, can be heard on a voice note detailing how he lost his uncle and cousins. When he saw their body parts in the hospital, he said “It’s only today that I felt my amputation. I didn’t feel it before; today I lost my leg”.
As international solidarity is growing towards Gaza, you can help Gaza Sunbirds by donating via the Gaza Sunbirds website, organizing a ride with Athletes for Palestine, sharing their story, and speaking about Gaza.
Author: Heba Attia Mousa
Photos by: Gaza Sunbirds
Disclaimer: This article is written in a volunteering capacity for Tabdeel: center for Cycling Urbanism in Egypt.
Sources
- Gaza Sunbirds: https://www.gazasunbirds.org/
- Gaza strip (UNRWA): https://www.unrwa.org/where-we-work/gaza-strip
- UN Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/CoIOPT/A_HRC_40_74.pdf
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