Every Friday afternoon, Mohamed el-Abadla, a 23-year-old young man, drives his Chinese-made motorcycle to join his friends to have fun on the hills of sands in southern Gaza Strip.

"We usually come here to get out of boredom. The political situation in Gaza is so boring and frustrating, so we come here to have fun and change our moods," said Abadla.

Abadla is one of dozens of Gaza young men who come with their motorcycles to the sandy hilltops near the outskirts of the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, to make acrobatic shows and to get out of their weariness.

"The prices of motorcycles are different. It depends on its power and its quality. One motorcycle could cost US$500 but you may also find a good motorcycle that cost 6,000 dollars," said Abadla.

Having a long dark hair, wearing an orange-color T-shirt and jeans was the bravest acrobatic motorcyclist who is called Sweilem.

"I have been coming to this area every Friday for several months, and I really enjoy it. We have nothing in Gaza except siege, wars and political disputes, and therefore we come here to escape from such a bad situation," said Sweilem.

Two years ago, motorcycles in the Gaza Strip were very few, but since Israel had imposed a tight blockade on Gaza, the number of motorcycles mounted up to thousands.

Another motorcyclist Ibrahim said that all the motorcycles were smuggled into the Strip from Egypt over the past several months, adding that many motorcycles were brought from Egypt when militants blew up the borders fence and hundreds of thousands of people breached Gaza-Egypt borders.

Young Gazans, driving different kinds of motorcycles, come on Fridays, from all over the Gaza Strip to that area, which used to be Israeli settlements and no Palestinians were forbidden to enter.

"I do have a driving license, but the policemen stop hundreds of motorcyclists who drive without licenses," said Abadla, adding "most of these motorcycles were brought into Gaza from Egypt, and many young men buy them for fun or for transportation."

On the coastal road that links Gaza city with central and southern Gaza Strip, the traffic policemen of Islamic Hamas movement erect checkpoints to stop motorcyclists to check their IDs and driving licenses.

If the police officers find out that the driver doesn't have a driving license, they will take his motorcycle and force him to pay the license fees.

"In Gaza, there are around 8,000 motorcycles, but only 2,600 got licenses, and we are looking for the people who drive with no license," said a traffic policeman Abu Zeyad at one of the police checkpoints on Gaza costal road.

Abu Zeyad and three other policemen were seen stopping every motorcyclist that drives on Gaza costal road and asking for his papers. If he doesn't have all his papers completed, "we ask him to go and get the license and he can't drive it now," he said.

He added that since motorcycles were brought into the Gaza Strip from Egypt, there have been so many traffic accidents with many people being killed or seriously wounded.

Psychiatrist Sa'eed Safadi said that "most of the young men buy motorcycles to get out of the despairing mood they live under the long Israeli blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip."

(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2009)