In a small distillery just outside Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a clear liquid drips out of a copper pot still into a stainless steel barrel, ringing like church bells.
Arak — PREACHER LAD/ EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/
The drink, which turns milky white when mixed with water and ice, pairs perfectly with Levantine cuisine, particularly mezze and grilled meats. Christians make up a small fraction of the Palestinian population in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. Many live in Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, and its immediate surroundings.
“When the quality of arak went down, people deserted it,” he said. Among Palestinians, it developed a bad reputation as “a drink for drunkards.” Mr. Muaddi’s award-winning arak is made of indigenous species of grapes and anise grown in the West Bank. He said he hopes working with Palestinian farmers will incentivize them to keep cultivating their land in the face of Israeli threats of displacement, movement restrictions, and Jewish settler violence.
To monitor the process, which can take up to 26 hours at a time, he sometimes sleeps on a styrofoam mattress at the Beit Jala distillery and sets an alarm for every 15 minutes.
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