Yasser Arafat was still in exile in Tunisia when an elderly gentleman and his son came to see him from Boston, armed with a most unusual request. The Palestinian leader had just signed the Oslo peace accords and was preparing to return to the Gaza Strip. From there, Mr Arafat was hoping finally to lead his people to independence and statehood.

The two men, descendants of an old Palestinian Christian family who had spent almost three decades in the US, wanted to know just one thing: would they be allowed to set up a brewery in Mr Arafat's new state? The leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation mulled over their request for a few seconds before answering: "With God's blessing, go ahead."