Travel Precautions

Travel Precautions

The anxiety over personal safety that characterized the early 2000s has largely dissipated at this writing. Individual violence is rare and tourists are not specific targets. Nevertheless, avoid Muslim Quarter back streets, and be cautious walking the Old City at night (when almost everything is closed anyway). The important weekly Muslim prayers around midday Friday sometimes get passionate if there is a particularly hot Palestinian-Israeli issue in the news. Emotions can spill into the streets of the Muslim Quarter as the crowds leave the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

As in any major tourist destination, pickpockets can be a problem: keep purses closed and close to you, and wallets in less accessible pockets. Don't leave valuables (especially passports) in parked cars, and use hotel safes.