JERUSALEM (dpa) – Until recently, the narrow streets of Jerusalem old town were filled with the sounds of clicking cameras, insistent traders and the praying and singing of religious tourists from all over the world.
But now silence has descended. The souvenir dealers, cafes and falafel snack bars have shut up shop. Tourists are staying away for fear of terrorist attacks. Only soldiers now patrol the Via Dolorosa that used to be filled with pilgrims carrying huge crucifixes.Jerusalem is a dream destination for many religious travellers, but at the moment it is one that cannot be fulfilled.Even in better times, Jerusalem was difficult to bear: a constant atmosphere of religious and political tension hovered over the Christian, Moslem and Jewish holy sites. The old town in particular stirred many different emotions in visitors: religious zealots and pushy traders, the faithful deep in prayer and fruit sellers dozing in the midday sun – the mood changed on every street corner.Even before the outbreak of the second intifada in autumn 2000, visitors could always sense the clash of cultures in Jerusalem old town. Even then, heavily armed soldiers guarded over the shaky peace from the rooftops.But as long as they did not stray from the usual tourist paths, visitors were hardly touched by the political problems. Most tourists climbed out of air-conditioned buses directly into the orient at the Jaffa Gate in the western quarter of the old town.The most important site for Christian tourists is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, supposedly the site of Christ’s crucifixion, burial and resurrection. Even though historians dispute this, thousands of visitors stream through the vast and rambling church which is filled with the scent of incense and the singing of orthodox monks.Monks regulate access to Jesus’ tomb. There is only room for two people at a time so visitors have only a few short minutes before being ushered out. “Next one,” demands the monk on duty without pity. They are unmoved by the enraptured faces of the faithful, sometimes with tears streaming down their faces, many of whom have dreamt their whole lives of this moment. Religion is business, particularly in Jerusalem.“Open your bag,” demand the soldiers standing guard at the Wailing Wall. The faithful wait in long queues to pass the security check, and no one is spared before reaching Judaism’s holiest site. Religious Jews come here to pray, men and women strictly divided, nodding continuously towards the wall. Many stick notices with pleas or thanks into the cracks in the wall.Just 15 metres above them is the Temple Mount, the Moslem holy site. Here the Muezzin calls the faithful to prayer in the El Aqsa Mosque and the splendid golden Dome of the Rock, the most imposing symbol on Jerusalem’s skyline. On Fridays tens of thousands of Moslems pilgrimage here and the Temple Mount is then closed to visitors. But they are often denied entry on other days – the opening system is inscrutable to outsiders. Some visitors only manage to get in after many attempts.Eastwards from Temple Mount is the Mount of Olives and the poor Arab quarter of Jerusalem, which belonged to Jordan until the Six Day War in 1967. To the west you see the faceless new town in the distance, which grows ever more dense each year. Directly opposite, the restored buildings of the Jewish quarter tower from the sea of houses. The atmosphere seems almost clinically clean in the broad streets and the expansive squares between the light sandstone houses – an apparently germ-free oasis.Yet the old town is neither a museum nor Disneyland, even if some smart corners look that way. Between the holy sites, the now deserted souvenir stands and snack bars, people often live in arduous conditions, particularly in the densely-populated districts in the Moslem quarter. Many entrances at the lower end of the Via Dolorosa are gloomy and narrow, the streets are littered with rubbish, small children beg for money. There is no trace of biblical romanticism, just averted faces.Behind every corner waits a new world, one in which visitors – should they return – are not always welcome.
