In a narrow, thronged street in the Old City of Jerusalem, the flow of the crowd was interrupted by one young tourist who stopped to snap photos of an old-style barbershop. The silver-haired barber was not amused.
“You want to take my picture, you ask me first! F— you!” he bellowed, not taking his eyes off his work.
You could see where the tourist went wrong: the street, like many of the main thoroughfares in the Old City, is brimming with souvenir shops offering religious knick-knacks: wooden camels; T-shirts; confectionery; crucifixes. A throng of tourists stroll through the town or follow tour guides through the picturesque alleyways from one attraction to the next.
The effect is oddly similar to that of a theme park: a Disneyfied pilgrimage. For a fee, you can even abseil off the ancient city walls. It’s easy to forget that actual people live here.
Read the full article by Sary Zananiri and Idan Ben-Barak at The Sydney Morning Herald.