My first stay in Jerusalem was brief and as such I only experienced a hint of this city’s character. I will say to begin with that I was largely confined to the Old City and only glimpsed the modern expanse of West Jerusalem that lay beyond the medieval ramparts. However, I can say with certainty that my stay there inspired in me one thing – a pressing need to go back and see it again.
The moment you step out into the streets of the Old City you feel swallowed whole. The buildings are packed so close and high that you often find yourself walking in the shade of a stone canopy. Getting lost for me was an inevitability but not one that I was concerned with. It scarcely mattered that I had no idea where the Muslim Quarter ended and the Armenian Quarter began or whether I was heading in the right direction for the Western Wall; just wandering here and stumbling through the Souqs, churches and ruins was indescribably joyful.
At one point on my first stroll through Jerusalem I rounded a bend and saw at once that I was in the Jewish quarter; first by the quantity of new buildings and second by the presence of half a dozen soldiers of the Israeli Defence Force (IDF). During my stay in Jerusalem there was not a single day where I did not see IDF troops. They were often to be seen relaxing, after their duties, in the Jewish Quarter; young and cheerful people of roughly my age who had the good fortune to be serving their military service here rather than at some sun scorched checkpoint in the West Bank. They did not usually carry rifles but on one occasion when I was sitting in a café eating Shwarma, a young IDF soldier sat down on a table opposite me with his parents with his rifle lying in his lap. His parents seemed utterly unperturbed by the presence of the firearm and at one point he passed the firearm to his father who patiently adjusted the strap for him before handing it back. The thought of having a family meal in public whilst visibly carrying a lethal weapon like that was inconceivable to me. But then, I reflected, there were a vast number of things in this country that were inconceivable to a mild mannered, leftie-liberal Englishman like me.
The reason for the military presence lies on the far side of the Jewish Quarter with a place that is difficult to name without, linguistically at least, choosing a side. For the world’s 2 billion (approx.) Muslims it is known as the Haram al-Sharif but for 13.8 million Jews it is known as the Temple Mount.
If anyone is in any doubt as to what the conflict is with this holy site I will give a brief explanation as best I can. The area that now comprises the holy site was where Abraham is said to have been instructed by God to kill his son, Isaac. Later, King Solomon is thought to have built the First Jewish Temple here in the 10th century BCE which was then destroyed by the Babylonians when they seized Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In 515 a Second Temple was built and the entire complex was expanded and upgraded to its current size by Herod the Great. Of this vast structure the Western Wall is all that remains after the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in 70 AD. Nevertheless, this last edifice is regarded as the most sacred site in Judaism.
After the Arab conquest of Jerusalem in the 7th century the Dome of the Rock was constructed on the Temple Mount over the site where, it is believed, Mohammed made his ascent to heaven while the Al-Aqsa Mosque (‘farthest mosque’) was established on the edge of the compound in what is thought to have been a church. Today the Haram remains the 3rd holiest site in Islam and is controlled by Jerusalem’s Muslim community – something which does not always sit well with the Israelis. In a brutal display of defiance, or desecration depending on your perspective, future Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made a crossing of the Haram on 28th September 2000 – surrounded by riot police. Sharon had a special significance for Palestinians after he permitted a Christian militia group to enter the Shatila refugee camp and slaughter the Palestinian occupants during the Lebanon war. Shouts went up of ‘Murderer!’ and before long stones were being hurled from the Haram down on the Israeli soldiers below. These events sparked the Second Intifada in which hundreds of Israelis and thousands of Palestinians would die as the Israeli government forcibly dismembered the Palestinian Authority and asserted its de facto control over the West Bank. Every Friday, as Muslims gather on the Haram to pray, Israeli soldiers and riot police assume their positions; waiting to react to any Palestinian provocation. Meanwhile the Palestinians are constantly alert to any infringement of their control of the Haram – convinced that the Israelis harbour designs to destroy this sacred place.
Regrettably the Temple Mount was closed during my stay in the Old City – possibly due to violent street clashes that occurred a few days prior to my arrival, although this was not clarified. Instead I turned my attention to a monotheistic shrine free of police barricades: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. As a non-believer, this was not a site I could claim much knowledge of and I would advise those in a similar position to do specific background research so they understand exactly what they are looking at – there’s no English Heritage style signage to help you along. The interior has that gloom, unique to all churches, which ensures that everything inside is taken seriously. Taking in Calvary (where Christ is thought to have been crucified), the Holy Sepulchre (where Christ was supposed to have been buried) and the various chapels is an interesting experience but with no spiritual connection between myself and these places I could not claim to have found the building inspirational.
Another slightly problematic factor for me was the authenticity of the place. The Church was founded by Helena, the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, in the 4th century AD who visited Jerusalem and, upon excavating a hill resembling biblical Golgotha, discovered three crosses. When the question then arose of how to identify the True Cross, Helena utilised the fool proof method of getting a sick man to touch each one. Conveniently he was cured by one which was then proclaimed to be the True Cross. Even more conveniently there was a pagan temple on the site beforehand which naturally had to be replaced by the Church. And still more conveniently this all occurred during the period when the Emperor Constantine had ended the persecution of Christians and commissioned the construction of many new churches. But maybe I’m just being cynical.
As my stay in Jerusalem came to an end I had the sense that to get as much as possible out of the city required better planning and more time than I had available. There was also a slight twinge of sadness at every new sight – there was no-one around me to share the experience with, no-one to break the tension or to bicker over the map. Travelling solo was a completely new experience for me and not a wholly positive one.
However, the day soon arrived when I would escape crowded atmosphere of Jerusalem and embark on the next stage of my journey – into the heart of the West Bank.
Outremer 
