Bolts of Syrian silk, soft as a butterfly’s wing, are stacked in a shop tucked deep inside Jerusalem’s Old City. Bilal Abu Khalaf, a third-generation fabric merchant, has spent most of his life surrounded by textiles.

“Fabric is like the sea,” he says, unfurling a shimmering bolt of red silk threaded with 14-karat gold. “It is always flowing and connects people.”

Abu Khalaf’s family traces its roots in Jerusalem back centuries to Kurdish soldiers who came to the city with Saladin. After studying political science at Ain-Shams University in Cairo, Abu Khalaf returned home and joined the family business.

Decades later, he still works in the same crowded stone alleys of the Old City, where merchants, pilgrims, clergy, tourists, and local residents pass through daily.

Inside his shop in Jerusalem’s Muristan market, near the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, shelves overflow with striped cloth favored by Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jewish customers, lavishly embroidered textiles and fabrics destined for church vestments, and brightly colored material for traditional Palestinian dresses.

Over time, Abu Khalaf says he began to see the store as more than a business.

“I wanted my shop to connect the three religions,” he says. “To make peace in my store.”

The clientele reflects the complexity of Jerusalem itself: Christian clergy come........

© The Times of Israel