Jerusalem Chamber

Protection Chamber - Jerusalem

This protection chamber for isolating suspicious items was installed at one end of Jerusalem's Western Wall plaza shortly after my arrival in Jerusalem (no correlation, of course), and I found another such chamber at the opposite end of the plaza soon thereafter. Also installed down the middle of the plaza were thick vertical barriers so that in case of an explosion, half of the plaza will be spared.

When I knocked on the chamber above, it didn't even sound hollow, so its steel wall must have been pretty thick, quite understandably. Given how nonchalant the locals were about the chambers or the explosion barriers, their appearances are probably quite frequent.

Travel Tip
If violence does flare up during your visit to Israel, it wouldn't be a bad idea to avoid crowded places, especially those with a high number of Israeli soldiers, whom the bombers would target.