A Palestinian Winemaker Carries On

Sari Khoury, the proprietor of Philokalia in the West Bank, would prefer to speak of the craft of winemaking and the ancient winemaking history of Palestinians rather than of the precarious circumstances he must currently navigate simply to get his work done.

Mr. Khoury was one of the very few winemakers working in the region before the Oct. 7 attacks on Israelis by Hamas and the subsequent war in Gaza, about 45 miles to the southwest. And his work, creating excellent natural wines, has continued through the war.

Winemaking is not widely practiced today in the West Bank, though Mr. Khoury cited one other producer near Bethlehem, Cremisan Winery, which has been making wine since 1885 and is run by the Salesians of St. John Bosco, a Roman Catholic order.

Since the war in Gaza began, Israel has intensified raids and arrests of Palestinians across the West Bank in what it describes as a campaign against terrorism. Mr. Khoury, who works in the West Bank, lives in Beit Hanina, a neighborhood in East Jerusalem.

Going back and forth to the vines he tends near Bethlehem is tricky because it is separated from Jerusalem by a wall and several checkpoints. “Checkpoints are not predictable,” he said. “Sometimes it’s 45 minutes, sometimes two hours, especially exiting the West Bank.”

Throughout history, in times of conflict, farmers and winemakers have tried to carry on as best they can. In Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting Hezbollah, Israeli airstrikes across the south and in the Bekaa Valley, prime winemaking regions, have made these areas hazardous to farm. Yet the wine growers continue, just as they did through 15 years of civil war in the 1970s and ’80s.