War and peas in the Middle East

Cooks in an Arab town near Jerusalem whipped up more than four tons of hummus, the chickpea paste that is a staple – and a near-religious obsession – for many in the region. They doubled the previous record for the world's biggest serving, set in October in Lebanon. That broke an earlier Israeli record.

Hundreds of jubilant Israelis, a mix of Arabs and Jews, gathered around the satellite dish used to prepare the hummus in the town of Abu Ghosh, many dancing as a singer performed an Arabic love song to the paste.

Guinness World Records confirmed that the Israeli chefs now held the record putting the exact amount of hummus in the giant dish at 9,017 lbs (4,090 kilograms).

Lebanon and Israel have officially been at war for six decades. Three months ago, when the Lebanese chefs prepared their record-breaking dish, they called it a move to reaffirm ownership of a Lebanese food they claimed had been appropriated by Israelis.