![]() “Issa”, a local Palestinian artist who told Al Jazeera he was behind the “Make Hummus, Not Walls” graffiti and asked to use a pseudonym to protect his identity, began creatively poking fun at The Walled off Hotel from its inception. “This tourism is minimising the whole occupation and making it into a product for internationals to buy,” Khalifa said. The price of one of these limited-edition souvenirs is $341. Khalifa told Al Jazeera The Walled Off Hotel has taken wall tourism to an altogether new level by “exoticising Palestinian trauma”.Īt the Walled Off Hotel’s shop, you can find small, souvenir recreations of the separation wall, in which Lushsux painted “Make Kebabs, Not Hummus”. The structure’s total length is expected to be 712km on completion.Īccording to the Israeli rights group B’Tselem, 85 percent of the wall is being built inside the occupied Palestinian territory, leading many Palestinians and rights groups to conclude that the wall’s construction is aimed at annexing more Palestinian lands. ![]() The wall, which was declared illegal by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) more than a decade ago, divides Palestinian communities, splits families and separates residents from their lands. It’s an apartheid wall” and “ Palestine is on both sides of the wall”. Hefawi swiftly defaced it by writing “This is not a border wall. Palestinian graffiti artists at Israel’s border wall in Bethlehem It has become exotic and sexy for internationals.”įor some Palestinians, words are clearly no longer enough it is time for action.Ī particular target has been Melbourne-based street artist Lushsux, accused by many Palestinians of “profiteering” during his stays at The Walled Off Hotel and creating images that speak to the alt-right.ĭuring a recent defacing campaign, 25-year-old Palestinian activist Soud Hefawi sprayed the lines “I do not need a colonialist to teach me how to fight colonialists” and “Some people like to benefit from other people’s misery” across Lushsux’s meme-style murals on Israel’s separation wall.Ī mural by Lushsux of Joe Rogan, an American comedian, had featured a text bubble asking: “Can you pull up that picture of me on the illegal border wall?” ![]() ‘Exotic and sexy’Īmany Khalifa, a prominent Palestinian activist based in Jerusalem, told Al Jazeera, “The wall has become a product. ![]() However, many Palestinians express disappointment with what they see as the hotel’s role in “occupation tourism” in Bethlehem, which they believe has transformed Palestinian realities into recreation for tourists. The central activity for the hotel’s guests is decorating the wall with art and graffiti.īeside the hotel is a shop called “Wall Mart” that sells graffiti products to tourists eager to scribble their names on the most visual component of Israel’s more-than-half-century occupation of the West Bank. The rooms overlook Israel’s separation wall and are decorated with objects meant to represent Israel’s violence against Palestinians. The hotel’s website boasts “ceiling views of graffiti-strewn concrete” and proximity to an Israeli army watchtower. The hotel was established earlier this year by the British street artist Banksy, who reportedly said at the time that it was “the world’s only visitor attraction dedicated to the biography of a single concrete structure”. When the sun sets and the hotel guests turn in their spray paint for the night, some Palestinians tiptoe around the area to add their own touches to the wall by defacing the art on the concrete. To many Palestinians, a structure that has brought pain and suffering to their lives has become, for all practical purposes, a source of excitement and fantasy for tourists staying at the hotel. Bethlehem, Occupied West Bank – Tourists trickle in and out of The Walled Off Hotel in this Palestinian city, crowding around Israel’s separation wall to spray graffiti slogans, murals and their names onto a chain of concrete slabs.
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