Palestine's West Bank has its own Oktoberfest

Palestine's West Bank has its own Oktoberfest
(Image credit: David Silverman/Getty Images)

Lots of cities and towns have their own Oktoberfest. The original and most famous is in Munich, but there are offshoots everywhere from Blumenau, Brazil, to Bangalore, India, and many points in between — lots of them in the U.S. The strangest Oktoberfest, though, may be the one in Taybeh, a village of about 1,500 in the Palestinian West Bank.

Taybeh, a Christian enclave in the predominantly Muslim occupied territories, is home to the only Palestinian brewery, the Taybeh Brewing Co. With the exception of this year — the event, scheduled for mid-September, was "postponed until further notice" due to all the deaths in Gaza from its recent war with Israel — Taybeh has held its own Oktoberfest every year since 2005, when David Khoury — the brother of brewery owner and master brewer Nadim Khoury — was elected mayor of the hillside town.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.