Jerusalem — The West Bank is most commonly associated with military activity, hilltop villages, and stone-throwing. However, the UAE residents can now sample a different, more appetizing side of the occupied region that Palestinians hope will eventually serve as the center of their future state.
Taybeh beer, a local staple in the West Bank, last week sent its first UAE-bound shipment through an army checkpoint to the Israeli port of Ashdod, from where it is exported to seventeen other countries.
Selling in the UAE market has both financial and symbolic value for Taybeh, which was launched in 1994 as the first microbrewery in the Middle East. It is a family-run business located in the tiny Christian village of Taybeh, near Ramallah. The name means good or delicious in Arabic.
“We view our market in the UAE as consisting of expats who want to upgrade their drinking habits and enjoy handcrafted microbrewed beer rather than mass-produced beer,” owner and US-trained brewer Nadim Khoury told TRENDS. “There are so many foreigners there and they appreciate good quality.”
Besides the beer, West Bank exports olive oil, building stone, mosaic cubes and dates to the UAE in addition to white goat cheese from the troubled city of Nablus, according to PalTrade, a non-profit membership group that seeks to encourage exports. The volume of Palestinian exports to the UAE, however, is still very small.
Khoury said the UAE opening is not a result of the 2020 Abraham Accords which normalized relations between Israel and the UAE.
“We didn’t go through an Israeli agent, we did it on our own,” he said. “I think beer and politics don’t mix. It’s the quality of the product and hard work that enables us to enter any country.”
Still, in the West Bank, Taybeh brewery has become something of a Palestinian symbol and a source of pride. It has expanded into winemaking, olive oil production and the hotel business. Every autumn, it sponsors a festival called Oktoberfest with an emphasis on Palestinian performers and heritage.
“The social aspect of this company is very important in terms of what it does for the community,” said Adnan Matouq, research development specialist at PalTrade. “Oktoberfest is not just about beer. It creates jobs and tourism. It’s about Taybeh village coming alive. It creates a sense of community and support for local brands.”
In Palestine, Matouq continued, it is crucial to support indigenous brands and local identity.
“Because you have some people who are trying to erase our identity from the face of the earth,” Matouq said. “Palestinians go above and beyond to support Taybeh and it’s a good product.”
Khoury said Taybeh will not offend religious sensibilities in the UAE because it is aimed at foreigners and also because it produces a variant that contains no alcohol.
Taybeh’s foray into the UAE started when Khoury’s son Canaan made contact a year ago with the National Corporation for Tourism in Abu Dhabi and sent samples.
The beer hasn’t always been without controversy among Palestinians, either. After Hamas movement seized power in the Gaza Strip in 2007, it banned the alcoholic beverage there.
Taybeh’s foray into the UAE started when Khoury’s son Canaan made contact a year ago with the National Corporation for Tourism in Abu Dhabi and sent samples.
“It will be available in hotels and restaurants,” Khoury said. “I’m not sure it will be in coop stores where foreigners can buy.”
The only other Arab country Taybeh exports to is Jordan, which is a growing market.
About 65 percent of Taybeh beer sales are within the West Bank, 20 percent in Israel, where the product, which has Palestine on its label, can be found in bars and upscale groceries in West Jerusalem.
One of the few things that Israelis and Palestinians appear to agree on is taybeh beer.
A total of 15 percent of Taybeh’s sales come from exports to other destinations.
Khoury would not disclose company profits but said it is “invested back into the village” Taybeh has sold close to 600,000 liters of beer this year, he said.
Exporting to the UAE is reviving an old dream for Khoury. He established the brewery not long after the famous handshake on the White House lawn between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat raised hopes of a new era of peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Khoury and many others believed that the peace could endure. Khoury wanted his microbrewery “to reach deep into the Arab world.”
But the peace was shortlived. The region soon plunged back into violence. Khoury is starting to focus on the greater region now that he is exporting to the UAE.
“We can be a regional brewery,” Khoury said, adding that the company is making preliminary contacts in Irbil, Iraq in the hopes of exporting there. “This is an obtainable vision.”