Pilgrims' plodding progress

摘要

Jerusalem is Islam's third-holiest city, but since Israel's conquest of its gold-plated Dome of the Rock in 1967, Arabs have had to snub it. Israel bars most Palestinians, particularly those under 40, from making the pilgrimage, and most Muslim rulers block the remaining 300m Arabs by forbidding visits to what they deem to be enemy territory. Bereft of Arab custom, Saladin's bazaar peddles Jewish menorahs and Israeli army t-shirts instead. By night, the holy eastern half of the old city feels as locked down and shut off as the Gaza Strip.