AFP Asia Business

Draft beer, peanuts and big-screen sports… the scene is reminiscent of pubs worldwide, but in Saudi Arabia’s capital, customers in white robes or black veils sip alcohol-free pints with no expectation of a hangover.”The idea is to offer customers an original experience they can share on social media,” Abdallah Islam, manager of the A12 cafe in Riyadh, told AFP.At the cafe, Saudi women lift their black face veils to sip ice-cold beer. “Is there alcohol in this?” one customer asked, nervously eyeing his pint.The incongruous scene, with veiled women clinking glasses, signals the changes under way and in the conservative kingdom, home to Islam’s holiest sites, as deep-seated taboos are gently prodded.The A12 cafe, on one of the busiest avenues in the capital, displays a large picture of a foaming pint on its window.Its managers say the cafe has been packed since April when it began serving draft beer — a German Warsteiner with 0.0 percent alcohol, poured into large mugs and served with peanuts, pub-style.Around the tables, young men in white thobes — the traditional Saudi garment — film themselves sipping their drinks, while a waiter pulls pints behind a shiny black bar.Some watch football on a television screen while enjoying a cold brew.Since the rise to power of Saudi crown prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman, cinemas have reopened, women are allowed to drive and foreign tourists are being welcomed.Alcohol, however, remains a red line.Booze has been banned in Saudi Arabia since 1952, shortly after the son of then-King Abdulaziz got drunk and, in a rage, shot dead a British diplomat.- Beer fear -For years, some residents of the city have been known to make their own bootleg wine. Others turn to the black market, where a bottle of whisky can fetch several hundred dollars.In January 2024, the country opened its first liquor store in Riyadh, catering exclusively to non-Muslim diplomats.But alcohol will not be served during the 2034 World Cup, the Saudi ambassador in London told a British broadcaster this year.”The kingdom must tread carefully with any potential legalisation of alcohol, as it would contradict its image as a credible leader of the Islamic world,” Sebastian Sons of the German think tank CARPO told AFP.Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are the only Gulf countries that still ban alcohol.Back at the A12 cafe, curious Saudis are coming to see what the fuss is about.”The look of it is scary — it looks like alcohol,” said Sheikha, 18, who asked to be identified by her first name only.”The word ‘beer’ alone is scary,” she laughed. “But I got over my fear, and honestly it’s refreshing.”The young woman, accompanied by a friend, decided to try the experience after seeing videos on TikTok.For the cafe’s manager, the point is to be able to offer the bar experience “but within the limits of local values”.It is a delicate balance in a youthful country where many are keen to experiment — but without crossing the line.”In our country, there are no alcoholic drinks,” said Ahmed Mohammed, 18, as he set down his empty mug.”And we don’t want there to be any.”

A knife attack by two Palestinian teenagers left an Israeli civilian dead and three others wounded in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Israeli emergency services and the military said.An army statement said soldiers had “eliminated two terrorists at the scene” and claimed “explosive materials were found in their vehicle”.The attack took place at the Gush Etzion Junction, a crossroads among a cluster of Israeli settlements on the main road south from Jerusalem to Hebron.The Israeli military said it responded to a “ramming and stabbing attack”.Magen David Adom, Israel’s equivalent of the Red Cross, said in a statement that one man died with a stab wound, and paramedics and an army medical force referred three injured people to two Jerusalem hospitals.They were a woman in a serious condition, plus a man and a teenage boy both in a moderate condition.Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the man killed was 71.The Israeli West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, near Hebron, named him as local resident Aharon Cohen.The Hadassah Medical Centre in Jerusalem said the woman in a serious condition had suffered a gunshot wound to her lower body and was undergoing surgery.Local media reported that she may have been shot by Israeli security forces targeting the assailants.The Palestinian Civil Affairs Authority named the attackers as Imran al-Atrash and Walid Sabbarna, two 18-year-olds from the Hebron area, and said that Israeli forces were “holding their bodies”.Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has soared since the Hamas attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war in October 2023.- ‘Pay a very high price’ -The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas hailed the attackers, as did the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group.”The heroic car-ramming and stabbing attack… is a natural response to (Israel’s) attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause and the escalating aggression perpetrated by occupation soldiers and settlers in the West Bank and Jerusalem,” Hamas said in a statement.The Gush Etzion Junction has been the site of several attacks on Israelis since late 2015.Yaron Rosental, head of the Gush Etzion regional council, told reporters at the scene that they,  “together with the army, will make the terrorists and all their community pay a very high price”.The Yesha Council, a body representing all Israeli settlements in the West Bank, blamed the assault on the Israeli government’s refusal to annex the Palestinian territory. Apart from East Jerusalem, occupied and annexed by Israel, more than 500,000 Israelis now live in the occupied West Bank in settlements, alongside some three million Palestinians.All Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory are considered illegal under international law.- Situation ‘worrying’ -Tuesday’s attack came the day after Israeli security forces clashed with demonstrators as they dismantled an illegal Israeli settler outpost in the Gush Etzion area.On Monday evening, homes and vehicles in the nearby Palestinian village of Jab’a were torched, after which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed he would deal with the violent “handful of extremists” among Israeli settlers.”We were sitting in our homes when we were surprised by a fire and stones falling on us,” Jab’a resident Mousa Ahmed Mousa told AFP.”The situation is worrying. The settlers burned down what they burned down, destroyed what they destroyed and then they left.”Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,007 Palestinians — many of them militants, but also scores of civilians — in the West Bank since the start of the war, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures.At least 44 Israelis, including both soldiers and civilians, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations, according to official Israeli figures.

US President Donald Trump defended Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Tuesday over the 2018 killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi as he wooed the key ally with a lavish welcome to the White House.Trump insisted the de facto Saudi leader “knew nothing” about the killing of the Washington Post columnist, after greeting the prince with a flypast of F-35 stealth fighters which he has promised to sell to Riyadh.The Saudi royal, who came bearing a pledge of a $1 trillion investment in the United States on his first US visit since the killing, said Khashoggi’s murder was “painful” and a “huge mistake.”A US intelligence assessment in 2021 concluded that Prince Mohammed had ordered the operation to kill Khashoggi, who was murdered and dismembered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.Saudi officials blamed rogue agents.The killing during Trump’s first term caused a diplomatic crisis at the time, but the US president made it clear he now wanted to brush over it as he boosts his relationship with the Saudis.Trump raged at a journalist who asked the prince about the murder in the Oval Office. He called Khashoggi “extremely controversial” and accused the reporter who asked the question of embarrassing the Saudi visitor.”Things happened, but he knew nothing about it,” Trump said of the Saudi prince. “You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that.”- ‘No justification’ -The journalist’s widow, Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, said in response to Trump’s comments that there was “no justification to murder my husband.”She also urged the Saudi prince in a post on social media to “meet me, apologize and compensate me” for the killing of her spouse.Trump, 79, pulled out all the stops to impress Prince Mohammed, 40, giving him a parade of soldiers on horseback and thundering cannon fire on his arrival at the White House.The Republican then showed the prince a new gallery of presidential portraits by the Rose Garden — including one portraying his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden as an autopen.The flattery continued inside the Oval Office, as Trump called the Saudi a “very good friend” and hailed him as being “incredible, in terms of human rights, and everything else.” The heir to the throne then delighted Trump by announcing that he was increasing the $600 billion Saudi investment he promised Trump when the US president visited the country in May.”We can announce that we are going to increase that $600 billion to almost $1 trillion for investment,” he said.The two countries were also set to seal a host of deals on defense, energy and AI, the White House said, including a deal on a framework for civilian nuclear cooperation.- Abraham Accords -Trump said he had also pushed Prince Mohammed to normalize relations with Israel through the Abraham Accords, as he seeks to turn the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza into a longer-lasting regional peace.The Saudi said he wanted to join the accords — Trump’s signature diplomatic achievement during his first term — but first needed a “clear path” to Palestinian statehood.Trump meanwhile reiterated his intention to sell Saudi Arabia coveted F-35 stealth fighters, despite concerns from Israel and warnings from US officials that China could steal the technology.The pomp was set to continue later in the day as First Lady Melania Trump hosts a gala dinner for the Saudi leader. Portugal soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays in Saudi Arabia, will also be at the White House, a US official told AFP.Prince Mohammed has fostered close ties with Trump and his family over the years, including through investment pledges to the property billionaire-turned-US president.Trump denied any conflicts of interest, a day after a Saudi developer announced a new hotel partnership in the Maldives with the Trump Organization, which is run by his sons.”I have nothing to do with the family business. I have left,” Trump said.