Israeli Arabs from all over the country danced their way hand-in-hand into the Guiness Book of World Records after holding the largest and longest group performance of the Debke dance in Acre's Old City on Sunday.

A record 2,743 people danced for seven minutes straight while holding hands in a human chain that stretched down Acre's Hagana Street - breaking the previous record of 1,700 set in Toronto a few years ago.

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The Debke is a six-step dance that is performed in a line.

For years it has been a mainstay of weddings and communal celebrations in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq.

The record-setting event was broadcast live for two hours on Al-Jazeera's cultural events channel. It was the first time in history that any Israeli Arab entered the Guinness Book.

Participants from over 30 Debke clubs arrived on buses from as far away as Rahat in the Negev and northern villages on the Lebanon border.

Asad Zarik, 73, came from his village of Ilabun, a "Debke powerhouse," where he said students from all over the Galilee came to study the dance. Zarik said the dance had become almost exclusively an elderly pastime, as most youths preferred to dance more modern steps.

500-year-old dance

Yihye Abu Juma'ah of Dir-al Assad trains 12 Debke troupes and was in charge of organizing Sunday's record-breaking dance routine.

He said the dance was over 500 years old and that to his knowledge, there were no Jewish dancing troupes in Israel performing the Debke.

In keeping with Guinness regulations, two "civilians" were appointed to judge the competition, including popular Israel Radio's Arabic-language host Iman al-Kassem Suleiman, who said there was no way he could miss the event, and that the dance was "an indelible part of the Arab culture, and if we can make the Guinness Book of World Records, it is proof we are not only part of Israel - we are part of the broader world as well."

MK Abbas Zakur (United Arab List), a resident of Acre, also helped judge the event.