Giant West Bank cake aims for Guiness record

Palestinians with a sweet-tooth gathered on Saturday around a giant syrupy cheesecake treat they hoped would set a new Guinness world record in their occupied West Bank city.

More than 100,000 Palestinians thronged Nablus city center for a slice of <i>kunafa</i> -- a cpastry sprinkled with pistachio and made of semolina, white cheese and a sugary syrup sprinkled with rose water.

Nablus bakers used 700 kilograms (1,540 pounds) of semolina flour and the same amount of cheese as well as 300 kilos (660 pounds) of sugar to produce the 74 meters long (243 feet) cake weighing 1,765 kilograms (3,891 pounds).

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and local dignitaries were among the first to receive a slice before the crowd was invited to dig into the kunafa, which cost about $15,000 to bake.

Hazem Shunnar, from the Guinness Book of World Records, and project mastermind Muhannad al-Arabi said that 170 bakers from 10 Nablus pastry shops helped make the giant kunafa, the Palestinian news agency Maan reported.

In June of 2009, some 4475 Lebanese Canadians danced their way into the record book by forming the <a href="http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/06/22/76674.html">longest <i>dabke</i> chain</a> ever assembled in a traditional Arab dance performed in Montreal, Canada.