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New
interview series: Conversations along the
Wall near Rachel’s Tomb
By Sytske van Bruggen
“Do you think I will stay at home? Never!”
Nicola (34),
restaurant owner at Rachel’s Tomb
Nicola’s
restaurant is located in a strange spot near
Rachel’s Tomb. When you enter the street,
you immediately see the massive grey blocks
of the Separation Wall in front of you.
Although the street is quite broad, there
hardly is anyone there. There are plenty of
shops. But most of them are closed since a
long time. It gives the street a lost and
somehow spooky image. When you look to the
right at a distance of 200 meter, the street
is blocked by the cold, military checkpoint
to Jerusalem. The only people on the street
are cab drivers waiting for customers coming
from Jerusalem.
After a
short walk in the direction of the
checkpoint, there is all off a sudden the
smell of fresh falafel. It comes from a cozy
restaurant. When having passed the door, you
immediately see Nicola, smiling happily, and
baking his falafel. He speaks from behind
his oil pan. During the interview, his hands
are non-stop preparing falafel balls
“People want
to keep some life in this area,” says
Nicola. “The cab drivers want to have a nice
place for dinner in the neighborhood.
Therefore, they come themselves and send
also tourists to my restaurant.”
Nicola is
famous for his delicious falafel. As a
thirteen-year old boy, he already
specialized in the secrets of making a great
falafel. He rents this restaurant since ten
years. He named it the “Christmas Tree
Restaurant” because his family used to have
a falafel restaurant in the centre of
Bethlehem just next to a Christmas tree that
was there all year. In the nineties the
Bethlehem municipality decided to start the
Bethlehem 2000 project. They built the Peace
Center at Manger Square, a place just in
front of the world-famous Nativity Church.
Therefore the former restaurant had to be
demolished.
In the first
years, business was going very well. Nicola
worked hard, and kept his restaurant open
until 22:00 at night. On Sunday he took a
day off.
But when the
Second Intifada started, Nicola experienced
a hard time at his new location. “The last
six years were difficult. Often Israeli
soldiers ordered me to close my restaurant.
Even when my place was full of people, they
could order me to close the restaurant in
five minutes.” But he was smart: “If people
went to a place in Bethlehem, I sent the
food by taxi.” In this way he was more or
less able to earn his living.
When the
Wall was built he had to stay home for three
months. That was very hard for him.
Afterwards he closed his restaurant at
16:00. “Why should I stay longer? After
18:00 no one is coming anymore.” To earn
enough, he started to work on Sundays as
well.
It is clear
that Nicola is fully dependent on the
checkpoint traffic and the moves the
Israelis make. “Within two days, the
patriarch of Jerusalem will come because of
the Christmas celebration. The Israelis
allow him to use the main road which is
normally closed.” That will take just some
five minutes. But for ‘security reasons’ the
Israelis will close the road for any one
else from at least 12:00 until 15:00.
Nicola, with a desperate voice:” So now I
think about closing my restaurant all day!”
But despite
all the difficulties he experienced in
building up his restaurant, one thing is
sure. He knows how to survive. With fire in
his eyes: “Do you think I will stay at home?
Never!”
The interview was conducte
Sytske
van Bruggen is a volunteer at AEI-Open
Windows and YMCA, and free lance journalist. |
