Oktoberfest in Palestine

October, 2005

Hello from Jerusalem,

I went to an Oktoberfest celebration last Saturday.  It had everything you would have expected: good ethnic food, colorful garb, music, dancing, and of course there was plenty of beer from the local brewery.  The only thing is that none of these were German.  Nobody wore lederhosen or dirndls and you couldn’t have found a smidgeon of sauerkraut or a bit of brat.  Even the beer wasn’t German or European or American.  It was all Palestinian.

The village of Taybeh (pronounced Tie-Bay) is about 10 minutes from Ramallah, the seat of Palestinian government in the West Bank.  This small Christian-Palestinian village, the only completely Christian village in the West Bank, has become famous over the last decade because of the small brewery founded there by a group of Palestinian Americans.  The beer, not yet available in the U.S. but exported to Europe and Japan, is actually quite good.  About a month and a half ago I met the owners of the brewery at a social event.  They are nice people, optimistic and gutsy enough to invest their time and money in the area, pursuing their dream of making a world-class product, putting down roots in a politically unstable area in hopes of supporting peace and an eventual nation for the Palestinian people, and providing much needed investment and jobs in the West Bank.  Gutsy indeed!  Besides all the other issues, who would open a factory in a dry, desert-like place to produce a food product in which the main ingredient is water.  In spite of all the potential problems, they have made it work.

Outside the brewery in Taybeh

At the time I had met them, these folks from Taybeh had invited me to their Oktoberfest.  I wanted to go for many reasons:  to support a Palestinian business, to be able to write the unlikely story that I went to an Oktoberfest in the West Bank, and to enjoy some really good beer at its source.  My company doesn’t allow employees to travel to certain places, such as the West Bank, for security reasons, adding a fourth reason for wanting to go there: the thrill of traveling to an off-limits place.  I asked company brass for permission to attend.  They were polite and smiled, but said, probably not.  It’s hard to justify the funds for putting together a security detail to accompany me to go drink a beer, even if it would be supportive of a local American-owned business.

In the meantime, I was invited to be one of three company employees to speak to a group of 350 Palestinian high school and college students about studying in the U.S.  Last year I gave the same talk for the same event via digital video conference from Jerusalem to the attendees in Ramallah.  This year, however, the event was to be in Ramallah itself which pleased me because I thought maybe I could make the trip to Taybeh on the way home from the talk, which is exactly what happened.  At 4:30 on Friday, the day before at the absolute last moment possible, I got permission to go to the Oktoberfest after the talk along with the two other officers who would be with me.

The event was great!  Actually, the whole thing was a little smaller than I imagined.  It had more the feel of a church picnic than the rollicking, boisterous, crowded scene the word Oktoberfest brings to mind.  I had fun.  Instead of sausage and kraut we ate savory pieces of grilled chicken, peppers and onions rolled in the large, round (15 inches across) thin Palestinian equivalent to a flour tortilla.  Instead of dancing the polka, we watched local performers dance quaint, traditional dances.  Instead of hearing an oompah band playing German songs, we listened to Arab pop-music.  I bought some Taybeh t-shirts, beer mugs, and a bottle of extra virgin cold-pressed Taybeh olive oil.  I also spoke with the brewery’s part owner and brewmeister and his sister-in-law, leaders of the community.  I admire what they have done and are doing to advance peace and a prosperity right in their own back yard.

The kind of revolution we can all support

For the moment, surrounded by music and children and happy people celebrating life and drinking a little of the village’s famous beverage, it was enough just for me to be there.  I think that any bit of joy, any celebration of life, of people, and yes, even of the local brew, is a step in the right direction.  I think most people here want what most people around the world want: a normal, happy life for themselves, their families, and their communities.  It was a privilege to be there at that moment, sharing those same, universal aspirations.  Here’s to peace in this region and to the success of Taybeh Beer:  Prost!

P.S.  Here are a few links if you want to read more about Taybeh.

A local media report about the first Oktoberfest in Taybeh
Village of Taybeh Homepage
The brewery home page
May 2010 NYT Op Ed about Taybeh