‘It’s tense here’: Jerusalem braces for prospect of war in the Middle East

In the Old City of Jerusalem, Mohammed Liftawi is sitting on his chair and waiting for something to happen.

He runs two shops, packed with clothes, bedding, jewellery, souvenirs and ornaments, and he hasn’t sold anything for days.

The tourists who should be thronging these streets aren’t here.

We are only a short walk from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of the most important sights in the Christian world, and Jaffa Gate, one of the main entrances to the city’s historic warren of sites and shops.

But it’s quiet. Worryingly quiet.

‘I think there will be another war’

“Jerusalem is very empty,” he says, waving an arm at the quiet street. “We have no tourists, we have nothing. They have fled because of the war.”

Having survived the COVID lockdown, his business is now having to cope with another slowdown. And now Mohammed fears another shock.

Does he think there will be another war, I ask. “To be honest, from what I hear, yes I think so. I think there will be another war. And nobody likes war.”

That may be true, but there are certainly those who are more open-minded to war than others.

‘Take off the head’

At Jaffa Gate, we bump into Moshe Cohen, 23, who’s actually quite keen on military action against Iran starting as soon as possible.

“I hope it starts in a few days,” he tells me, smiling.

I ask why. “Because they give all the money to Gaza, to Hamas. Everything comes from them. It’s a lot of money. So you have to take off the head and make the world a better place.”

So what if Americans were to decide not to attack Iran – should Israel go alone? “Yes we should. If they [the Americans] don’t want to, then we’ll have to go first.”

Alongside him, his friend, Bezalel, nods in agreement. They have no doubt at all that an attack on Iran has to happen.

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By contrast, Khalil Al-daqaq freely admits he doesn’t know what’s round the corner.

His shop, a short stumble from the Holy Church, has been run by his family for decades. He first worked here as a child – he’s now 67. Friendly, welcoming and happy to chat.

‘Some people are really scared’

“Trade is bad, but we are surviving,” he tells me. “It could be worse. I’m a very optimistic person. In this country, you have to be.

“It’s tense here. Unexpectedly. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the coming days. Or the next hour. Some people are really scared, but you know – what will happen, will happen.

“But people will always want to come here. When it is calm and peaceful, they will return. It’s a holy place for everyone. What we are missing over here are logical, sensible guys. For the leaders… we’re just numbers to them.”

And that sense of fatalism is a line you hear regularly – a feeling that it’s not worth worrying about the future because it will happen soon enough.

We bump into Yaakov Simcha, a 21-year-old who has come here from New Jersey to study the Torah, Judaism’s most important text.

So what, I ask, is going to happen?

“I have no idea. I’m not nervous or anything. I believe in God, and I believe that whatever he wants to happen is going to happen. And so, you know, I think his plan is going to work.”

He smiles at me. “Whatever happens, happens. It’s his plan. I’m just going to sit back and continue my studies.”