Foreign briefing

Published Date: 14 October 2008 PEOPLE the world over readily associate the Holy Land with religious pilgrimage. Lesser known is Palestine's annual call to devotees of beer in the Christian village of Taybeh. Sunday saw Oktoberfest celebrated in Taybeh. Hundreds of visitors were able to relax for a day and forget about occupation and checkpoints, with the faces of international men and women of the cloth changing from serious to slightly buzzed as the aft ernoon progressed. "The beer is wonderful," enthused Father Jones Iragesen, a German Benedictine monk from Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem, who was accompanied by four other monks. "But this is my first and last beer because I am the driver." While Bavarian and Palestinian music groups played on a stage, Fr Iragesen and others stressed the event was not just for enjoying the... [read full story]