October 3, 1995
Web posted at: 3:10 p.m. EDT (1910 GMT)
From Correspondent Jerrold Kessel
TAYBEH, West Bank (CNN) -- Nadim Khoury is man with a mission, and it's all in his name. In Arabic, Nadim means "bringer of drink." The goal he and his wife, Suhair, have adopted is to persuade their fellow Palestinians to drink beer that the Khourys brew and bottle themselves. "I was born in this place," Khoury said. "This is my home town, so I like to make it. It's a local beer for the local people. I feel like making history. It's a new project."
With a more peaceful Middle East beckoning, Khoury returned
from a long sojourn in the United States to Taybeh, a
Christian village on the West Bank whose name he took for his
microbrewery. The business is a family enterprise. His
father, a retired businessman, has been drafted to keep the
books. "We are blessed by everybody, especially the
Palestinian National Authority," said Kanaan Khoury.
But there may be trouble. Alcohol is rigorously outlawed under Islamic law. "It's absolutely forbidden in the Koran," said Sheikh Ikremeh Sabri, a Jerusalem mufti, or interpreter of the law. "I'm very disappointed. This shouldn't be happening in Palestinian society."
In many traditional Muslim areas beer is not readily
available, but European and Israeli beer -- and now
Palestinian beer -- is sold in mixed Palestinian towns, where
both Muslims and Christians live. In Ramallah, for example,
Muslim-owned stores won't carry Taybeh Beer but Christian
groceries and restaurants are promoting it in a big way.
"Nobody will force anybody to drink, so everybody has the
choice to drink or not," said one beer-drinker. "For those
who drink beer, it's OK," another restaurant customer
observed. "It's better than importing beer from the
outside."
The Khourys say they hope to add a touch of normality to
Palestinian life and don't expect pressure from Islamic
fundamentalists.
As for the beer itself, the Khourys' Boston-based brewer, Mark Haymon, said he "won't say that it's light, but it's definitely a good session beer. You can sit and have a good 10 or 12 of them and enjoy them."
![[Imagemap]](/WORLD/images/world_nav.gif)
Copyright © 1995 Cable News Network, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.