Our story.

The Early Days 

During his time volunteering as an English teacher in 2006, skateboarder Charlie Davis would take his board into the streets after class. He was amazed to find crowds of kids gathering round, asking how he made the board jump in the air, assuming there must be magnets in his shoes. 

He soon discovered that skateboarding was something new to Palestine, and the idea for SkatePal was born. In 2013, after completing his degree in Arabic Language at Edinburgh University, Charlie and his brother Jack set out to build the first mini-ramp in Palestine, at the Sharek Youth Centre in Ramallah. It was here that they met two of the first skateboarders in Palestine - Adham Tamimi and Aram Sabbah.

Despite a ten-year age gap, Charlie and Aram formed a strong friendship and Aram immediately took a lead in helping build ramps and run classes that summer in Ramallah, and has played a pivotal role in the skate-scene ever since. 

The following year, Charlie and a team of international volunteers returned to the West Bank and built Palestine’s first concrete skatepark in Zebabdeh, near Jenin.

The years that followed saw a big growth spurt in SkatePal’s operations, building skateparks in Asira Al-Shamaliya (Nablus) in 2015, and Jayyous in 2017 (Qalqilya) as well as running classes in the Sareeyet Youth Club in Ramallah.

In 2019 Aram, having completed a degree in Film & Media, became SkatePal’s full time manager on the ground, organising classes, skatepark construction and leading the international volunteer program. During the years that followed, the scene continued to grow with Aram and local skaters taking on more and more leadership of on the ground operations. 

Today 

In 2025, we are proud to partner with local organisations Skateboarding.ps (West Bank) and Gaza Skate Team (Gaza) and support them as they lead the Palestinian skate scene towards a sustainable future. Find out more here.