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CNN Live At Daybreak
Conflict Eating Into Tourist Economy in Jerusalem
Aired April 03, 2002 - 05:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Israel's action to root out terrorists in the Palestinian territories is preventing two Palestinian teenagers from going home to their refugee camp in Bethlehem.
The 15 and 16-year-old girls are stranded now in San Francisco. They were in the United States to attend the Academy Awards. The girls were the subjects of a nominated documentary called "Promises," which followed the lives of Palestinian and Jewish children over a five year period. And, yes, they remain stuck here this morning.
The crisis in the Middle East is taking a toll on both Palestinians and Israelis.
Our John Vause is in Jerusalem with a look at the fear factor and the financial impact of the violence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every day that Deganit Refoua opens her souvenir shop in downtown Jerusalem, she knows it will be another day of losing money. There are no tourists, no one to buy the gifts and ornaments, like the engraved Israeli crystal which once sold so well.
DEGANIT REFOUA: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
VAUSE (on camera): Is that a big seller?
REFOUA: Yes.
VAUSE (voice-over): She's owned this store with her husband for the past 20 years. Never, they say, has it been this bad.
REFOUA: I want to make my living, to give my children to eat, to be quiet, don't let them to be in panic all the time, and I am tired of it.
VAUSE: Deganit Refoua now spends most of her time at home. Her 12-year-old son helped set up a Web site so they can sell online, because she says most of her customers are too afraid to come to the store.
(on camera): Because here in the heart of Jerusalem's commercial district, there's been at least eight suicide bombings and attacks in the last six months alone, all of them within less than a mile of the Refoua's souvenir shop.
(voice-over): At home and under siege, the Lewitt family typical of so many in Israel.
NANCY LEWITT, JERUSALEM RESIDENT: There is no safe anymore.
VAUSE: Because now the suicide bombings are so random, so unpredictable, when going out at night they eat at restaurants that are off the street and up a flight of stairs.
NANCY LEWITT: The thinking in the head is OK, well, if a terrorist comes, well, it's not right on the street and they probably are not going to think they'd have to go up a flight of stairs.
VAUSE: Her husband Ron, a salesman, used to have many clients in the Palestinian village of Beit Jala. But no more. He says it's now too dangerous to drive there. When he does take his family out, there's an ever present fear of attack.
RON LEWITT, JERUSALEM RESIDENT: To tell you the truth, I don't know what I'm looking for, but we're looking. Do you know what something suspicious is? You don't know until you see it.
VAUSE: They have two teenage boys who now spend most of their free time at home with friends.
YONATAN LEWITT, JERUSALEM RESIDENT: We go down there and there's no one. It's like, I feel like Jerusalem is a ghost city.
VAUSE: Nancy carefully chooses her supermarket based on the level of security, especially after a suicide bombing at a Jerusalem shopping center last week. She goes to a market that has two or three private security guards instead of only one.
NANCY LEWITT: Looking around all the time and looking over your shoulder, looking around at the people, seeing if anybody looks suspicious. Before going somewhere, just looking out and seeing if there's enough security.
VAUSE: The government here estimates in the last 18 months the economy has taken a hit of $5 billion U.S., mostly through lost tourism, extra unemployment benefits and especially security.
John Vause, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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