In 1996, Martin Indyk, the United States ambassador to Israel, faced a political quandary. It was the eve of the 3,000-year anniversary of Jerusalem, and the U.S. could not be seen participating in celebrations that recognized the contested city as the unified capital of Israel. And so Indyk went to the nearby Arab town of Abu Gosh in order to avoid controversy – only to find himself in the middle of a lesser-known, much-tastier conflict.

Like religion, hummus in Israel inspires feelings of jealousy, ownership, competition and pride. It also has the power to divide families and (even more unbelievably) unite Jew and Arab, which is exactly what happened in the town of Abu Gosh.

Abu Gosh has become famous for two reasons: the feud between the Abu Shukri brothers, scions of a hummus dynasty and the persistent efforts of Jawdat Ibrahim, a lottery millionaire, to reclaim the Guinness World Record for the largest bowl of hummus that was lost to Lebanon in May 2010. Two years later, we returned to determine whether peace is prevailing. Continue reading this article online at The National Post.

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