Jews, Muslims can't help falling for Elvis

JERUSALEM, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Muslims and Jews alike visit Israel's Elvis Inn, a gas station, cafe and shrine to the King of rock 'n' roll not far from the border with the West Bank.

The inn's owner, Uri Yoeli, 61, was first bitten by the Elvis bug when he was 16 years old and a girlfriend brought him a photo of the white-clad music icon, The Memphis Commercial Appeal reported Sunday.

Then Yoeli bought his first Elvis record and friends began bringing him press clippings and photos.

In 1972, he had saved enough money to go to America. His two stops: Graceland in Memphis and an Elvis concert in Salt Lake City.

When he returned to Israel, he bought a small inn outside Jerusalem. At first he called it the Mountain Inn and decorated it with only a few Elvis photos, the newspaper said -- but then customers began bringing more material and he changed the place's name to the Elvis Inn.

He had two 15-foot statues of the king built in front.

The inn has not always been a place of peace. In 1980, it was destroyed by a bomb planted in a bus of American tourists.

But Yoeli says he still sees people brought together every day by their love for rock 'n' roll, jumpsuits and blue suede shoes.