Wine-washing: colonization, normalization, and the geopolitics of terroir in the West Bank's settlements

Abstract

Terroir describes a set of special characteristics of a given place-geography, geology, climate, and human agricultural traditions-that incarnates in the unique taste of its products, usually wine. In contrast to modern perceptions of territory as an abstract legal-political entity, terroir invokes images of organic relations between people and a specific land with a unique 'character'. The paper will analyze the evolving discourse in the West Bank settlements in recent years, which shifts the emphasis from biblical history, ideology, and security-to tourism, vineries, and terroir. The argument will be that the usage of sophisticated wine language enables normalization of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank in a paradoxical way that is emphasizing their location and blurring it at the same time. While the concept of normalization is usually applied to the 'quality-oflife' urban settlements, our paper concentrates on the small and 'ideological' settlements, which are located in the densest Palestinian regions. By that, we wish to contribute to the growing research body on the West Bank settlements, as well as to the fields of geopolitics, colonial and postcolonial studies, and cultural geography.

Terroir and Territory on the Colonial Frontier: Making New-Old World Wine in the Holy Land

“…In addition, the growth of the Israeli wine industry in the Golan Heights was made possible largely due to massive support from the state, which was guided by political and ideological motivations. This scenario was to repeat itself two decades later in the West Bank, where wine production served economic development and also as a civil normalization of the settlement project (Handel, Rand, and Allegra 2015).…”

Silent springs: The nature of water and Israel’s military occupation

“…This enterprise includes a range of endeavors such as the design and promotion of archeological sites and museums, new hiking and biking trails, observatories and scenic spots, and regular cultural and artistic events. Ariel Handel et al. (2015) provide an example of this process in their focus on the establishment of the settler wine industry.…”

“…This enterprise includes a range of endeavors such as the design and promotion of archeological sites and museums, new hiking and biking trails, observatories and scenic spots, and regular cultural and artistic events. Ariel Handel et al (2015) provide an example of this process in their focus on the establishment of the settler wine industry. Specifically, they illustrate how ''ideological settlers have been trying to talk in a language that connects them to the sophisticated wine lovers in Tel Aviv-a language that paradoxically emphasizes their location in the heart of the West Bank rather than blurring it'' (Handel et al, 2015(Handel et al, : 1354; see also Monterescu and Handel, forthcoming).…”

Liquid indigeneity

“…The global economy's central concept of uniqueness is that of terroir , defined as an idiosyncratic combination of soil, climate, culture, and history that gives food its distinct taste (Demossier ; Handel, Rand, and Allegra ). In the wine world, terroir has a nearly mystical aura (Matthews ), one that endows a plot of land with a holistic quality that is beyond calculability.…”