00:00 A once-in-a-lifetime trip for many, cut short by war.
00:05 Jerusalem's Old City is one of the holiest places in the world for an array of religions
00:09 and communities.
00:10 It's usually full of pilgrims and tourists.
00:14 Not today.
00:16 The typically bustling souk of East Jerusalem is eerily quiet.
00:21 After October 7th, tourists left the country in a hurry.
00:24 Bookings were cancelled.
00:27 Of the 800 merchants, mostly Arabs, only a handful are here.
00:32 They say this will hurt business for months, if not years.
00:36 Every two years, three years, we have a new round of violence that can stop or not reduce
00:45 the amount of tourists.
00:47 But this one stopped it completely, and this one seems to be the roughest round I have
00:52 ever seen.
00:54 From peak season to nothing.
00:56 There is no work, I'm just coming to sit.
00:59 Business no.
01:00 We feel sad, you know, we don't have work at all.
01:03 The situation is not easy, the war is not easy.
01:07 No, no, no, we feel very upset and sad and nobody feel good, you know.
01:15 Not from, no Arabs, no Jew, nobody feel good.
01:18 We feel all sad.
01:23 From the stairs to the church of the Holy Sepulcher, this has been the pilgrimage site
01:28 for Christians since the 4th century.
01:31 Today it's devoid of the usual tour groups.
01:34 People are very afraid and disappointed and they don't want to even hear about religion,
01:40 you know, because they see like this thing is taking us to dark days.
01:49 With no end to the conflict in sight, there is a lot to pray for right now.
01:53 (chimes)
