Normally, the area is one of the most beautiful places in the city for Ramadan celebrations, covered in strings of festive lights and lanterns that take about 30 volunteers several weeks to set up.
This year, there are no decorations, and the narrow passageways of the Muslim Quarter are quiet. About half of the usually lively souvenir shops and restaurants are closed; on some streets, there are more Israeli border police offi cers than civilians.
The holy month of fasting and feasting is expected to begin on 10 March, but with war in Gaza raging, and tensions in annexed East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank at boiling point, there is little for Palestinians to celebrate.
“It is diffi cult to fast or eat when we think about our people in Gaza, who are starving,” said Bab Hutta resident Zeki al-Basti, 54. “There were no Christmas celebrations, and there will be no Easter celebrations, as long as the war continues … All we can do is pray.”
More than 30,000 people have been killed in Israel’s off ensive on the Gaza Strip and 85% of the 2.3 million population displaced from their homes in the worst violence in the entire Israeli Palestinian conflict to date, according to local health ministry and UN data. The war broke out after Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and another 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli fi gures.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 06, 2024-Ausgabe von The Guardian.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 06, 2024-Ausgabe von The Guardian.
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