People living, working and visiting Jerusalem are worried uneasy peace may not last
The constant rumblings of bombs reigning down has stopped, so too have the piercing screams, it’s finally silent in Jerusalem, but a little too quiet. SEE THE VIDEO.
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The bombs, for now, may have stopped, but the fear remains.
The Via Dolorosa, the streets where Jesus walked, are almost empty.
The Wailing Wall, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prayed for Donald Trump, only has a few kippah-wearing pilgrims putting their own private thoughts in the cracks.
The golden dome on the Al-Aqsa mosque glistens in the sun, but it’s far less busy than usual.
This is Jerusalem, where an uneasy peace is holding.
The site of so much conflict over the past 1000 years and the centre of three of the world’s major religions, people living, working and visiting the Old City are worried that it may not last.
Israeli mother-of-three Ariel Klein, 49, says she is scared.
“I am afraid. I have three boys, the big one is in the army and I’m really afraid,” she said.
“My parents live in Haifa, which is a target for Iran.
“We see on the television how much damage there is from the rockets and I don’t feel safe”.
Ms Klein, and her partner, Limor Liza Eckhaus, 49, were some of the few people still in Jerusalem despite the threat of Iranian missiles.
The couple from Zikhron Ya’akov in northern Israel made the trip to Jerusalem because Ms Klein wanted to visit her son.
Most of the businesses in the Old City, which is normally bustling with selfie-taking tourists, were closed this week.
Winding through the narrow, cobblestone streets, which are only a few metres wide, feels strange.
Shop window shutters are down, secured with heavy duty padlocks.
There are a few small convenience stores offering essential supplies like bottles of water that are needed to beat the 32 degree sun that beats down on the stone buildings.
Many of the shop owners are either standing out on the street looking bored or sitting on a chair perched outside the front of the premises, despondent that they have hardly any customers to serve.
Fawaz Shaaban, 63, has lived in Jerusalem his entire life, and had been praying that America would intervene in the war.
He didn’t think that Israel could strike a decisive blow on Iran by itself.
Mr Trump’s bold bombing raid was the answer to his prayers, giving him hope that Iran would not get a nuclear weapon that could wipe Jerusalem off the map.
“People don’t work, people are very scared,” he said.
That word again, scared.
It feels like it’s sinking into your bones when you hear it.
This security situation was a nightmare, but everyone was wide awake and alert, waiting for the next text message warning to head to a bomb shelter.
The people in Jerusalem have heard of ceasefires before. They have been living under the shadow of war since Israel was created in May 1948.
The 12-Day War, as Mr Trump has called it, comes after a long line of conflicts in the nation’s 77-year history.
There was the 1948 war between Israel and neighbouring Arab states, which started less than six months after the nation was declared a state by its first leader, David Ben-Gurion.
There was a Palestinian insurgency in the 1950s and then the Six-Day War in 1967 that Israel fought against Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
The Israeli Defense Forces won that conflict and expanded Israel’s territory, which created the Gaza Strip, a tiny sliver of land on the Mediterranean Coast that has been a constant source of fighting.
There have been ongoing battles since, and the latest war started on October 7, 2023, when militants from terrorist organisation Hamas, backed by Iran, slaughtered 1200 Israelis and took more than 250 hostages.
Israel’s devastating response has included the near destruction of Gaza, which is still home to 2 million people, to stamp out Hamas.
It has also severely depleted Hezbollah, a terrorist group in Lebanon that threatens its northern border.
There has also been the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria – a tyrant who used chemical weapons on his own people – with the help of Israeli strikes.
The 12-Day War started when Mr Netanyahu decided to strike Iran directly, knowing that its proxy armies that surrounded Israel were unlikely to be able to respond.
The IDF gained control of the sky, allowing the United States to send seven B-2 stealth aircraft to drop 14 GBU-57 bunker-usting bombs.
The never-before-used ordnance targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities at Fordow, burrowing as far as 60m into the mountainside before detonating 2.5 tons of explosives.
Mr Trump claimed that the bombs “totally obliterated” Iran’s bid to build a nuclear bomb.
However a report by the Pentagon’s intelligence arm, the Defense Intelligence Agency, later concluded the strikes had probably only set back the nuclear program by a few months.
The FBI launched a probe into the leak to CNN, which Mr Trump heavily criticised and demanded that the reporter who broadcast the story be sacked. The network backed its reporter, saying the report was based on “initial intelligence”.
CIA director John Ratcliffe went against the leaked report, saying Iran’s nuclear program was “severely damaged” and some sites were “destroyed”.
People in Jerusalem were nonetheless grateful for the US intervention, but they have lived with fear for too long to believe this really was a decisive victory.
“It’s bad for everybody, the situation is very bad, we are not allowed to open our shops,” a shop owner, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
“It’s never been quiet like this, we feel terrible, we need a solution. I hope things get better.
“We are not allowed to speak at this time because I don’t want to cause any trouble for my shop or my business”.
The people of Israel continue to live in the shadow of the Holocaust.
They have also known that since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, hardline leaders in Iran have wanted to destroy Israel.
They describe Israel as Little Satan, reserving the term Great Satan to refer to the United States.
The next move for both sides remains unclear.
Mr Trump expressed frustration at both Israel and Iran before heading to a NATO meeting in the Netherlands this week, saying they “don’t know what the f*** they are doing.”
His outburst and some stern back room calls ensured that the ceasfire held despite both sides breaking it within hours.
Mr Trump has announced that Iran had agreed to have talks with the US about its nuclear program, saying he won’t let Tehran get an atomic bomb.
The success of the US strikes on Iran and Israel’s decision to call a ceasefire have raised further questions about military operations in the Middle East.
The future of Gaza, where according to the Gaza health ministry run by Hamas as many as 50,000 people have been killed since October 7, remains undecided.
There are at least 50 hostages still being held there by Hamas, however, only 20 are believed to be alive.
There have been protests on the streets of Tel Aviv, with families demanding that Mr Netanyahu do a deal to get the remaining hostages home.
Hamas was unlikely to hand them over easily even though its leadership has been decimated and the IDF controls 80 per cent of the Gaza Strip.
Pope Leo urged the world this week to remember those suffering in Gaza as he pleaded for urgent aid.
His intervention, like Mr Trump’s, may hopefully provide a catalyst for peace.
Mr Netanyahu may now believe that with Iran’s nuclear ambitions curbed, Israel may have built enough of a security buffer to begin the task of rebuilding Gaza and creating a new normal in the Middle East.
The Royal Australian Air Force began bringing Australians home on evacuation flights home from Tel Aviv after the reopening of Israel’s airspace.
The world, just like the people in Jerusalem, is praying the fragile peace will continue.
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