Crowbars, bolt cutters, or hammers, many Palestinian shopkeepers in Jerusalem's Old City struggled on Tuesday to reopen their stores, which were vandalized the day before by participants of an Israeli nationalist march.
In the alleyways, the metal doors protecting the display windows bear the scars of this parade marred by scuffles during "Jerusalem Day," a celebration organized by Israeli authorities to mark what they claim as the "reunification" of the city after the conquest and annexation of East Jerusalem following the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Every year, thousands of young nationalists take this opportunity to parade through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, often targeting Palestinian residents, but also journalists and human rights activists.
Lock padlocks are stuffed with toothpick shards, and the walls are covered with stickers from various political movements, some overtly racist.
"No humanitarian aid to Gaza," reads the stickers from the far-right party Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power), the party of the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, referring to the entry of goods into the Palestinian territory, which has been under blockade for months.
When employees of an electricity provider's branch in East Jerusalem arrived around 7:30 a.m. (4:30 GMT), they discovered the storefront windows shattered.
Ismail Eshqart, a manager of this Palestinian company, came to have the damaged lock replaced and to assess the damage.
Disheartened, he told AFP that the employees had left the premises before the march because they anticipated "a bit more tension" than usual in this alley, where Palestinians and Israelis, many of them religious, gather daily at the Western Wall.
On the surveillance footage, he says he saw "settlers" in front of the shop but refuses to accuse anyone specifically, noting that there was indeed "intentional damage."
"Child's Play"
"Every year, it's the same thing," sighs Abou Oussama, a clothing vendor, "they (the march participants, Ed.) come, attack the stores, shut them down, throw firecrackers."
He had to wait for a municipal worker to cut the sabotaged lock on the doors of his clothing store with an electric saw.
"They do whatever they want!" exclaims the merchant, "and no one tells them: What are you doing? It's forbidden to do that!"
He fumes over the time lost due to these "child's play" antics, which caused his store to open several hours late.
Amid crates of peaches or cherries unloaded in front of the stalls at the Damascus Gate, many merchants share the same dismay before shrugging their shoulders in resignation.
"It's getting worse," comments Oum Mohammad, a neighborhood grandmother who came to shop.
Born in the Old City, she did not leave her home the previous day: "Last year, a man I know was beaten up."
Cleanup
Armed with solvent and sponges, a group of about ten Israeli and foreign volunteers came in the cool morning to scrub off the tags and remove the stickers.
"I came to do what I could, even if it's not much, to try to soothe the souls a bit," notes one volunteer, who wished to remain anonymous.
Discreetly, they scurried between storefronts, trying to avoid police patrols.
In vain, several of them ended up being briefly detained.
Contacted by AFP, the police did not respond.
"It's a crazy world," repeats Joshua Korn, a volunteer from the Israeli-Palestinian coexistence organization Standing Together.
Police "yell at us, saying we're causing a disturbance [...] simply because we came to remove racist graffiti and stickers put up by settlers, specifically to provoke!"
For Oum Mohammad, these activists are "the exception that proves the rule." According to her, "here, in general, [Israelis] destroy everything."