Jerusalem’s Old City now resembles a ghost town

Jerusalem’s Old City, a magnet for visitors from around the world, is reeling after almost nine months of war in Gaza, which has decimated Israel’s tourism industry.

Israeli visitors to the walled city, home to the holy sites of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, are also conspicuous by their absence: most are simply afraid to visit while others, still traumatised by the Hamas attack of October 7th, remain reluctant to shop in Arab markets.

A visit to the Old City’s narrow cobblestone alleyways, to experience the explosion of noise, smells and colours of the Levant, was always a highlight of a visit to Israel and the best place to pick up souvenirs. Ultra-Orthodox Jews making their way to and from the Western Wall intermingled with priests from the various Christian sects in the Christian and Armenian quarters and local Palestinians buying produce in the market.

But during a recent Saturday visit to the area it became clear that a new and depressing reality has set in. The Old City today resembles a ghost town. About half the stores are shuttered. Others will open for just a few hours a day.

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“The tourists started leaving at lunchtime on the Saturday of the Hamas attack, and for the first seven months of the war we didn’t make a single sale,” says Muhammed Maswadeh, who runs a souvenir shop on a thoroughfare leading to the Western Wall. “Now we make one or two sales a day.”

Like most of the Old City businesses, Maswadeh’s store was passed down from his grandfather to his father and now to him, and he is reluctant to close the business even though every day the store loses money. Maswadeh has taken on another job in order to feed his family, and he is not optimistic about the future. “People can see what’s going on in Gaza so it’s going to be at least two or three years before things improve.”

Tourism was slowly improving after the Covid pandemic, but October 7th was a devastating blow and international tourism figures show an 80 per cent drop compared to the pre-war period.

The souvenir shops, restaurants and hostels catering for tourists – more than one quarter of all the Old City businesses – have been hardest hit, but even the stores selling produce, clothes, phones and electronic goods to local Palestinians are feeling the impact.

In response to the Hamas attack Israel prevented West Bank Palestinian day labourers from working in Israel, mainly in the construction industry, leading to a sharp decline in income for many Palestinian families. Local residents from the Jerusalem area are buying less and the impact is felt in the Old City’s market.

The smell of freshly-ground coffee is one of the aromas that combines with the market’s herbs and spices, creating a unique Old City fragrance. The Palestinians refer to it as Arabic coffee (Israelis call it Turkish coffee) but it’s actually imported from South America. “During corona we were closed and didn’t make money. Now we are open and don’t make money,” says Mazen Izhiman, owner of the Izhiman coffee shop, close to the Damascus gate entrance to the Old City. “There are no tourists and only a few Israelis. Sales have plummeted. We can barely break even.”

The cost of coffee, along with other imported goods, has shot up due to the Houthi attacks on Israel-bound shipping. “It used to cost 48 shekels [about €12] for a kilo of coffee from South America and it took a month to arrive. Now it’s going up to 68 shekels and it takes four months to arrive,” says Izhiman.

The situation is bleak but there are a few upsides. In the past it was sometimes so crowded in the Old City, particularly during Ramadan, Christian holidays and Saturdays (the preferred day for Israeli day trippers), that it was difficult to navigate the packed alleyways.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, revered by Christians as the site of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, was invariably packed with thousands of pilgrims. Now, with only a smattering of visitors, it’s possible to experience a sense of serenity befitting the pre-eminent holy site of Christendom.

Saad Maswadeh runs the 25-room Hebron Khan hostel, situated at the meeting point of the Old City’s Muslim, Christian and Jewish quarters. They had 25 guests, mainly backpackers, on October 7th. Today there are five. He blames “fanatics” on both sides, but hopes for a better future. “There’s too much hatred on both sides. This war is not helping anybody. We should find a way to live together here: Jews, Muslims and Christians.”