RAMALLAH, July 22 (Xinhua) -- On a summer afternoon, the sun blazed over Taybeh, a Palestinian village in the central West Bank. Its main street was nearly empty.
The night before, an entire hillside on the village outskirts had been engulfed by flames. Villagers accused Israeli settlers of setting the fire.
"It was frightening to see a whole mountain on fire," said Madees Khoury, general manager of Taybeh's brewery. "We were so worried that the wind would carry the flames even further."
Known for its Christian heritage and celebrated microbrewery, Taybeh once drew tourists from home and abroad. Khoury recalled staying open late as visitors kept arriving. The annual beer festival, launched in 2005, was regarded as one of the West Bank's signature cultural events, drawing over 16,000 people from around the world at its peak.
Yet that era is fading. Repeated Israeli settler attacks, together with movement restrictions and economic strain, are eroding the village's appeal.
"When people hear about settler attacks in Taybeh, they think twice -- three times -- about whether it's worth coming, whether it's safe," Khoury said.
The beer festival has been canceled for two consecutive years and is not expected to return this year.
The manager noted that since the Gaza conflict broke out in October 2023, business has dropped by at least 70 percent. "Exports have continued, but production has slowed sharply," she added. "There's no tourism, no parties, no festivities. It's one of the worst times in the history of this country."
The Taybeh brewery, which now employs 15 people, reflects a broader West Bank in crisis: casualties rising, people leaving, and the economy collapsing.
Fifteen families, a substantial number in a village of just over 1,000 people, have moved abroad since the war began, Khoury said. With roads becoming unsafe, settler attacks intensifying, and incomes falling, "the spirits are low."
Still, she has not surrendered to despair.
During the slowdown, the brewery expanded, tripling its size and installing new machines and a computerized automated system. "We've been working on this for three years," Khoury said. "Now we're in the final phases."
Taybeh is not an isolated story. Elsewhere in the West Bank, the struggle is even starker.
A UN report put unemployment in the West Bank at 30 percent in the first quarter of 2026, down from peak levels in 2024 but still more than double the pre-crisis rate.
For some Palestinians, job-searching has become a life-threatening gamble.
In late May, a 26-year-old Palestinian man was killed at the separation barrier north of Jerusalem while trying to cross into Israel in search of work. Long streaks of dried blood still marked the wall weeks later.
Nearby, auto mechanic Mahmoud Ramana said he once had a permit to work in Israel, earning 200 shekels a day, enough to support his five children. After the war began, his permit was revoked.
"Here, it's only 20 or 50 shekels," he said. "That's not enough for someone with children."
Ramana has watched men attempting to cross without permits being carried down from the barrier. "They risk everything for their children," he said. "I hope the war will stop, and life will go back to how it was before."
Since Israel revoked or suspended most Palestinian access permits in October 2023, UN figures show, 20 Palestinians have been killed and over 290 injured while trying to cross the barrier as of June 1.
In al-Ram, razor wire crowns the concrete wall, while advertisements for local shops hang below -- a quiet sign of defiance, and a reminder that ordinary life continues under extraordinary pressure.
Back in Taybeh, Khoury walked past the brewery's gleaming new production line, ready but running far below its potential.
"We hope things will get better, because they can't stay this way forever," she said. "Hope is all we have left." ■
