Palestinian village and tiny Christian enclave celebrates Oktoberfest each year

Описание: (6 Oct 2012)
1. Close up of beer being poured into plastic cup, AUDIO: music
2. Barman serving beer, AUDIO: brass band playing
3. Banner reading (English and Arabic) "Taybeh Oktoberfest"
4. Palestinians and foreign visitors being served beer
5. Foreign visitors drinking beer
6. SOUNDBITE (English) no name given, visitor from South Carolina US:
"I am not a big beer drinker, but I come for the ambience, of the festival atmosphere, it's very nice and it's a way of showing my support for the Palestinians."
7. Mid of US visitor raising glass to camera and saying UPSOUND: (English) "Cheers to Taybeh Beer Festival 2012. Everyone enjoy and have a wonderful time."
8. Various of Dabke dance group performing on stage
9. Wide of audience
10. Mid of German visitor Jonathan Schindler sitting with friend
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan Schindler, tourist from Germany:
"My friend Simon told me about this festival here, and he said it's like the Oktoberfest in Germany, and I thought if something here is like in Germany, I will go here."
12. Close up of beer in plastic cup
13. Man drinking beer
STORYLINE:
The tiny Palestinian village of Taybeh in the West Bank welcomed visitors to a surprising celebration on Saturday: its annual beer festival.
Taybeh is the last all-Christian enclave in the Muslim-majority West Bank and has been celebrating a German inspired Oktoberfest since 2005.
It's a must-go event for thousands of Palestinians as well as international visitors and is celebrated with Munich-like enthusiasm.
The village is home to a brewery, the Taybeh Brewing Company, which claims to produce the only Palestinian beer.
Taybeh can mean "delicious" in Arabic.
The Khoury family, who produce the beer, say it is made from just four basic ingredients; malt, hops, pure water and yeast.
The Taybeh festivities are far away from the Gaza Strip, the other area Palestinians want for their future state, where the Islamic Hamas movement has forbidden alcohol and imposed severe rules for men and women in public.
Palestinian Muslims in the West Bank are also conservative and widely disapprove of alcohol.
Christians make up a minority of several tens of thousands among the more than three (m) million Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
In the past few years, seeking to mollify their neighbours, organisers billed the Oktoberfest in Arabic as a two-day sale of traditional produce like olive oil, colourful embroidery and honey - with some beers sold on the side.
Today many Palestinians see it as chance to boost the depressed local economy and many come here to enjoy Palestinian music and dance troupes who performed 'dabke' (a traditional dance) as part of the celebration.
The event inevitably draws comparisons with its better known European counterpart, the Munich beer festival, although some visitors say they prefer Taybeh's unusual atmosphere.
Oktoberfest is a two-week beer festival held each year in Munich, Germany during late September and early October.
The event is one of the world's largest festivals, with close to six (m) million visitors attending each year.
The tradition of Oktoberfest has been enthusiastically taken up by several cities across the globe, each staging their own version of the festival.


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