「収入も生活もない」　静まり返るエルサレム旧市街

【エルサレムＡＦＰ＝時事】キリスト教、ユダヤ教、イスラム教の聖地がある東エルサレムの旧市街は今、巡礼者も観光客の姿もなく、不気味なほど静まり返っている。（写真は人けのないエルサレムの旧市街）
　パレスチナ自治区ガザ地区を実効支配するイスラム組織ハマスとイスラエル軍の戦闘開始から約１か月。迷路のような旧市街のほとんどの商店は、シャッターを閉めたままだ。
　土産物店の店主で、祖父の代からツアーガイドをしているというマルワン・アティエさん（４８）は、「観光産業はもうない」と嘆いた。「家族も子どももいるのに、商売も収入も生活もない。金がないのに使いようもないだろ？」
　イスラエル当局によれば、ハマスが攻撃を仕掛けた１０月７日以来、エルサレムの観光部門はほぼ崩壊している。
　ＡＦＰは２日、十字架にかけられたイエス・キリストが埋葬されたと信じられている聖墳墓教会を訪れたが、空洞のようなホールを時折、聖職者が通るだけだった。
　エルサレムに留学中だというイタリア人の神学生ピエトロ・マッツォッコさん（３１）は「今はご覧のように完全に空っぽ。人がいません」と語った。
　イスラエルに乗り入れている多くの航空便が運休し、観光ツアーもキャンセルされ、旧市街には人けがない。
　フランス人のラシッドさん（２４）は現在の状況を自分の目で確かめたいと思い、旅行をキャンセルしなかった。ヨルダンから陸路で国境を越えたが、イスラエル当局の入国審査は長時間に及んだ。
　街を歩いていると、警官に何度も呼び止められたという。「道に誰もいなくて妙な感じがする。両方の人々が恐れて、敏感になっている。私が誰なのか、どこから来たのかと警戒心が強い」
　■イスラエル兵は「みんなを蹴とばしていく」
　イスラエルが併合を宣言している東エルサレムでは検問とパトロールが強化され、アルアクサ・モスクの金曜礼拝も参加する人が減っている。
　旧市街の住民は大半がパレスチナ人で、イスラエルの治安部隊による嫌がらせや暴力を恐れ、家から出ようとしない人が多い。
　ガザでの武力衝突は、エルサレムに近いヨルダン川西岸にも不穏な影響を及ぼしている。紛争開始以降、イスラエル軍やユダヤ人入植者との衝突でパレスチナ人１３０人以上が命を落としている。
　１日にはイスラエル軍に包囲されているガザ地区に連帯するゼネストが行われ、東エルサレムやヨルダン川西岸の店は完全に閉店した。翌日は多くの店主が身の安全のためとして、ＡＦＰの取材に応じなかった。
　店主の一人エマド・シディイさんは「今は危険だ。安全じゃない」と言った。「（イスラエル軍の）兵士はみんなを蹴とばしていく。人間に対する態度じゃない」
　イスラエルのベンヤミン・ネタニヤフ首相はハマスとの停戦はあり得ないと断言しており、絶望は深まるばかりだ。
　「私たちはあらゆる人々のための平和を望んでいる」とシディイさん。「動物のように殺し合うのはごめんだ。私たちは生きる必要がある」 【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/11/06-17:29）

The once bustling streets of Jerusalem's Old City have fallen eerily quiet, with the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas keeping away tourists and their much-needed cash.
In the maze-like warren of shopping streets that surrounds the city's holy sites, most businesses remained shuttered, nearly four weeks into the war.
The few remaining shopkeepers brave enough to open their stores wait day after day for tourists that have yet to return.
There is no tourism industry any more, said Marwan Attieh, 48, a third-generation tour guide and souvenir shop owner.
We have families, we have children... (There is) no business, no income, no revenue, no life. How can you spend money, if you don't have money?
The walled Old City in annexed east Jerusalem is home to some of the holiest sites for Christians, Jews and Muslims and has drawn pilgrims and travellers for centuries.
Yet Jerusalem's lucrative tourism sector has all but collapsed since October 7, when Hamas militants from Gaza stormed across the border in an attack that killed at least 1,400 people, according to Israeli officials.
Following the onslaught, Israel has struck back hard at the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip with a relentless bombing campaign that has killed more than 9,000 people, mainly civilians, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
- 'No people' -
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where most Christians believe Jesus was crucified and buried, stood largely empty on Thursday, other than the occasional priest stirring in its cavernous halls.
Before, this place was really alive, full of people praying and offering their problems to God and in general very spiritual, said Pietro Mazzocco, a 31-year-old Italian seminary student studying in Jerusalem.
And now it's completely empty, as you can see here. There are no people.
While many flights to Israel have been suspended and tour packages cancelled, a few tourists managed to reach the largely deserted Old City.
Rachid, a 24-year-old French tourist, refused to cancel his trip to Israel, saying he wanted to see the situation on the ground with his own eyes.
He arrived earlier this week via the land border from Jordan, following lengthy interrogation sessions by Israeli authorities.
It's a bit weird, nobody is in the streets, he told AFP, adding that he had been stopped several times by Israeli police since arriving.
People are afraid on both sides, he shrugged. People are sensitive. They don't know who I am or where I?m from.
- 'They kick everybody' -
Outside of the tourism bubble, daily life has also taken a hit.
Attendances at Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque are down, while checkpoints and patrols in occupied east Jerusalem have been beefed up.
Many residents of the mostly Palestinian-populated Old City are afraid to leave their homes, citing harassment and physical violence by Israeli security forces.
In the nearby West Bank, the number of deaths of Palestinians has surged amid a flurry of Israeli operations, with more than 130 killed in clashes with the military and settlers.
On Wednesday, a general strike was called in solidarity with the residents of the besieged Gaza Strip, with businesses closing across the West Bank, including east Jerusalem.
On Thursday, many shop owners declined to speak to AFP out of concern for their personal security.
It's a dangerous time. It's not safe, said Emad Sideyyi, a shop keeper in the Old City.
The soldiers, they kick everybody,? he said. They don?t deal in a good way with people.
For most, the war cannot end soon enough.
But with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing that a ceasefire with Hamas remained off the table, despair appeared only to be deepening.
We hope to have a peace for everybody, said Sideyyi. We don't want to kill each other like animals. We need to live.