Shops on Salah-al Din Street, a Main Commercial Hub of Palestinian East Jerusalem, Are Reeling from Loss of Business since October 7

Hijazi al-Risheq, the owner of a juice shop on Salah al-Din Street, suddenly stopped talking when the owner of a shop on the opposite side of the street approached him and told him that Israeli tax and municipality crews, accompanied by the Israeli police, were at one end of the street, entering shops and recording violations. The shopkeeper’s final words were, “Be careful.”

A minute later, a woman who owns a clothing store near al-Risheq’s store arrived and said the approaching Israelis were tax people. Within seconds, shop owners began either closing the doors of their shops or examining the files and money box.

Al-Risheq is one of the oldest shop owners on Salah al-Din Street, the most important business street in East Jerusalem, and he told Jerusalem Story: “These crews affiliated with the Jerusalem municipality and tax authorities fine every shop they enter, often for no reason. They have intensified their campaigns in recent days, especially since the war on the Gaza Strip.”1 He said that tax collectors take turns in Palestinian neighborhoods.

Al-Risheq was highlighting a reality that many shopkeepers face: Despite the massive drop in business due to Israel’s multilayered closures of Jerusalem since October 7, Israeli tax authorities are intensifying their store-to-store tax collection efforts in a campaign that shopkeepers we spoke to suggested was a form of collective punishment for the actions of Hamas in Gaza, in which they had no involvement.

A woman who entered the store, asking that her name not be mentioned, joined in the conversation. “I own a two-story women’s clothing store here on Salah al-Din Street. No customer has entered my store for three days, and the last piece of clothing I sold was worth NIS 50 [about $15].”3 She said that the lack of business had been so catastrophic that, four days earlier, she had to lay off several female employees, and now she remains the only one in the store.

Al-Risheq, who was chairman of the Salah al-Din Street Merchants’ Committee and Secretary of the Jerusalem Chamber of Commerce, says that for the more than 150 stores on Salah al-Din Street, since the beginning of the war, business on the street has decreased by more than 80 percent in clothing stores and completely in some stores whose owners opted to close in order to save expenses and limit losses.

He pointed to the store opposite his shop, the famous Abu Hassan hummus and falafel shop, which is usually so crowded during the late morning hours that customers must wait in line for a hummus and falafel sandwich. Today it is closed. Al-Risheq says it has been closed since the beginning of the war. The owner told al-Risheq that it costs him more than NIS 2,000 daily to keep his store open for the time being.

Al-Risheq tells Jerusalem Story that Salah al-Din Street is the commercial heart of Jerusalem.

A few shops away, the brothers Hratch and Hagop Sevan stood in front of their gift shop, known by all. They told Jerusalem Story that they spent more than 30 years in this store after taking it over from their father. Hagop Sevan said:

The Armenian Palestinian brothers shared that, “At this time late in October of each year, we are usually in the midst of preparations for [Latin] Christmas, [Orthodox] Christmas, and New Year’s. This year, we are not even thinking about buying goods for these holidays.”6

Hagop says that he and his brother have not received a salary from their shop for more than a month due to the lack of commercial activity; they take minimal amounts to buy food and to cover basic expenses. He says there were those who suggested to them that they leave Jerusalem and move to another place, such as the US, but he refused because he loves the city, and what he loves most about it is the affection and familiarity between the people. He cannot imagine himself far from Jerusalem, from his friends, social life, and the close relationships that people in this holy city enjoy.

The Universal Tourist Agency is a well-known tourism company with a street store at the end of Salah al-Din Street. It was established in 1960 by the late Na‘im Tarazi (brother of the PLO’s long-term United Nations representative Zuhdi Tarazi). The tour agency is now run by Na‘im’s children, Margo and Samer Tarazi. For years, they were focused on Russian Orthodox pilgrims. Margo Tarazi, the tourism agency’s manager, spoke with Jerusalem Story about the financial disaster they are facing. “We had just started recovering from the loss of Christian pilgrims due to the Russia–Ukraine war when this happened,”7 she said.

“During the first week of the war on Gaza, everyone on Salah al-Din Street was closed except us. We had to be open working on emergency evacuation and refunding everyone [for their planned, now cancelled, travel].”8 Tarazi said that when business strikes were called to protest the killings in Gaza, she worked behind closed doors.

Tarazi said, “While this current tourism season is dead, we can’t even begin to compare our situation with that of our family and friends in Gaza.”9 Yet despite it all, she remained determined. “We survived COVID, work comes and goes, and we are here to stay. We cannot bring back the lives of all those lost in this aggression against the civilians of Gaza, but we will not give up on our cause.”10

The vast majority of shop owners Jerusalem Story spoke with on Salah al-Din Street, including Hijazi al-Risheq, Adli Izhiman, Hratch and Hagop Sevan, and Margo Tarazi, agreed that the people of Jerusalem will pay the price of the war on Gaza, and that the Israeli authorities will escalate their measures against Jerusalemites, including taxes in their various forms and other forms of persecutions, with the openly declared aim of displacing and forcing them to leave the city.

Abu Zaki al-Samman, the owner of one of the most famous nut shops in Jerusalem, agrees with this assessment. As a result of the deteriorating conditions and the inability of customers to reach the city, he had to destroy tens of kilograms of chocolate that had expired; he now is limited to roasting smaller amounts of nuts for those customers who manage to reach his store. Despite this, he insists that he will keep regular hours every day to assure everyone that Jerusalem, despite the difficulties of doing business with a war going on in Gaza, will persevere.