{"id":89206,"date":"2017-03-27T12:00:01","date_gmt":"2017-03-27T11:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=89206"},"modified":"2017-03-22T19:43:15","modified_gmt":"2017-03-22T19:43:15","slug":"palestinians-sceptical-about-banksys-irony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/03\/palestinians-sceptical-about-banksys-irony\/","title":{"rendered":"Palestinians Sceptical about Banksy\u2019s Irony"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

\u201cThis picture belittles the sacrifice that thousands of Palestinians have made throughout the years\u201d, according to Ramzy Baroud.
Photo, Walled Off Hotel<\/p><\/div>\n

Banksy hotel opens in Bethlehem, eliciting heated reactions by Palestinians<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

By Jaclynn Ashly and Reem Alqam, Ma\u2019an news
\nMarch 11\/14, 2017<\/em><\/p>\n

BETHLEHEM \u00a0\u2014 Israel\u2019s infamous separation wall in the occupied West Bank, while cutting off Palestinians from their lands and religious sites, isolating communities, and eroding the livelihood of scores of Palestinians along its route, has become an unlikely breeding ground for tourism.<\/p>\n

Adjacent to the graffiti-stained separation wall in the city of Bethlehem, which is surrounded by illegal Israeli settlements, and next door to the Aida refugee camp, elusive UK artist Banksy now welcomes guests to his latest project: the Walled Off Hotel.<\/p>\n

The wall\u2019s destruction of livelihoods<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a message written in Arabic, English, and Hebrew, a plaque posted at the entrance to the hotel-cum-art museum tells its guests not to \u201cchoose sides\u201d in the conflict. In describing the separation barrier, deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice, the statement says: \u201cThe wall is a lie. It sells the idea that there is a simple divide between the people here, but there isn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

But according to Palestinian-American journalist and author Ramzy Baroud, Bethlehem\u2019s isolation from Jerusalem through Israel\u2019s separation wall and two massive illegal settlements \u2014 with a third on its way \u2014 is far from \u201ca lie,\u201d and has taken a tangible toll on the city\u2019s economy, which once boasted a thriving tourism industry thanks to its many historical and religious sites.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis tragic reality left Bethlehem, one of the most endeared Palestinian cities, struggling for survival, and reduced it in many instances to utilize its very subjugation as a method of generating income,\u201d Baroud told Ma\u2019an.<\/p>\n

Banksy\u2019s hotel is not the first project that has attempted to develop an alternative tourism industry seeking to raise awareness about Palestinian dispossession and routine Israeli military violence.<\/p>\n

Following the wall\u2019s construction in the area, the livelihoods of numerous Palestinians were destroyed, forcing some to develop alternative livelihoods dependent on funds generated around foreign tourists coming to the area to view Israel\u2019s separation wall.<\/p>\n

Diana Buttu, a Palestinian-Canadian lawyer and former spokesperson for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), emphasized to Ma\u2019an that local Palestinians\u2019 dependency on tourism centred on the wall was not just about financial profit. She said,<\/p>\n

For some Palestinians, foreigners coming to see the wall is essential for their ability to stay alive. If they don\u2019t get people to recognize what is going on in Palestine, then their deaths become just numbers.<\/p>\n

The idea of showing others the wall is a way of ensuring that their oppression and resistance is not experienced in silence.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The separation wall in Bethlehem with a mural of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) leader Leila Khalid. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly\/MaanImages<\/p><\/div>\n

These days, the few shops open in the area near the wall in Bethlehem cater to international tourists visiting the site to take pictures of graffiti and the impressive murals decorating the concrete. Banksy\u2019s artwork in the area has become a centrepiece for such tourism.<\/p>\n

Yamin al-Abed, a local tour guide and owner of the Banksy souvenir shop right beside the new hotel, told Ma\u2019an that he expected Banksy\u2019s hotel to triple the amount of visitors to Bethlehem. \u201cThis area is going to be crowded soon,\u201d he said. \u201cI am really looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banksy\u2019s artwork has \u201cbrought life back into a dead area,\u201d al-Abed said, by developing a business around the now-iconic stencil work Banksy painted on the wall more than 10 years ago.<\/p>\n

However, the hotel\u2019s elusiveness on its planned financial model \u2014 as its website only states that it would \u201cput any profits back into local projects\u201d while remaining vague which specific projects would be concerned \u2014 has led observers to question whether or not the new business will positively benefit the community.<\/p>\n

A local worker at a nearby hotel, who preferred to remain unnamed, expressed his confusion over the hotel\u2019s opening to Ma\u2019an. \u201cIt is strange that this hotel was constructed in an area where commercial shops and hotels have been killed by the wall\u2019s construction,\u201d he said, adding that his own hotel had faced serious financial setbacks since the wall was built.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s not meant for Palestinians\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Bethlehem truly needed was breaking this sad paradigm, not cementing it,\u201d Baroud said, echoing local concerns that the livelihoods generated around the wall has served to further entrench the Israeli occupation in the West Bank by basing a local economy on its most visual and destructive feature.<\/p>\n

Buttu said that the most worrying aspect of what she referred to as \u201coppression tourism\u201d was the parts of the wall which had not been decorated with graffiti and murals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vast majority of Israel\u2019s wall is completely ignored by tourists. And these parts of the wall are actively scooping out large areas of Palestinian land.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tourists are typically attracted to the \u201cvisual elements\u201d of the cement wall, she said, and often disregard parts of the wall with barbed wire and electric fences, underscoring that these areas tend to be the most devastated as locals are dependent on farming and have no other alternative livelihood.<\/p>\n

According to Buttu, \u201cMany people really wanted visitors to see the wall for its ugly reality, and not use art and graffiti to mask or erase the reality Palestinians were living.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Even before Banksy\u2019s hotel, the graffiti and murals decorating the length of Israel\u2019s separation wall had often been the focus of international tourism. Photo by Jaclynn Ashly\/MaanImages<\/p><\/div>\n

While she wanted to give Banksy \u201cthe benefit of the doubt,\u201d she said that the hotel risked feeding into the same process that Palestinians have been attempting to challenge. \u201cPalestinians want foreigners to actually do something for their struggle, not just come and take pictures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baroud, meanwhile, commented that certain aspects of the hotel were deeply offensive to Palestinians. Referring to one painting hung in a $265-per-night suite that lightheartedly depicts an Israeli soldier having a pillow fight with a Palestinian protester, Baroud said that it was \u201cdeeply insulting\u201d and \u201cbelittles the sacrifice that thousands of Palestinians have made throughout the years.\u201d<\/p>\n

For local resident Muna Hassan, the hotel reflects larger issues in occupied Palestine.<\/p>\n

\u201cPalestinians feel hopeless. All we have now are foreigners coming here and advocating social and political projects that don\u2019t help us at all. Meanwhile, our economy is dependent on international aid which arrives with conditions and tells us how we should behave,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

According to Hassan, this kind of tourism exists because \u201cthere\u2019s nothing left for us to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a government that doesn\u2019t represent us. Israel has destroyed all our political movements and has stolen our land. They took everything from us. We have nothing left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hassan told Ma\u2019an that Palestinians had become tired of social and political projects originating from the international community:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need better hospitals and schools. We need businesses that help us define and change our own society. We should create spaces where young Palestinians can develop their own conceptions of art, instead of just catering to foreigners who want to draw on the wall and snap pictures of Banksy paintings.\u201d<\/p>\n

She noted that, for her, the hotel was \u201cnot meant for Palestinians. It\u2019s just more entertainment for tourists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israelis welcome?<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the most controversial elements of Banksy\u2019s new hotel is the stated aim of welcoming Israelis to the West Bank, with the hotel itself being constructed in an Israeli-controlled area of Bethlehem.<\/p>\n

The trilingual statement posted at the hotel\u2019s entrance claims that most Israelis are \u201copposed to the cruelties inflicted by the wall,\u201d while the ones who support it \u201care deeply fearful for their security.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the hotel\u2019s owner Wissam Salsa, one focus of the project is to \u201ceducate Israelis on Palestinian suffering\u201d caused by the separation wall and the Israeli occupation. \u201cWe also want to show our guests what it\u2019s like to live on this side of the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Al-Abed said that he believed it was important for Israelis to visit the West Bank, saying that \u201cI am sure that once they come and see our miserable lives, they will return to Israel and attempt to change their government.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Large murals on the separation wall in Bethlehem are surrounded by messages of solidarity from international tourists and activists visiting the occupied territory.
Photo by Jaclynn Ashly\/MaanImages<\/p><\/div>\n

However, Buttu told Ma\u2019an that Israel\u2019s policies have actually received widespread support from an Israeli public that has \u201cbenefited immensely\u201d from these policies, while feeding into Israeli desires of a \u201cJewish state.\u201d According to a poll released earlier this year, 62 percent of Israelis support continuing Israel\u2019s illegal settlement construction in Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will not find Israelis who support going back to life pre-1993, when you didn\u2019t have separation and Palestinians had freedom of movement into Israel. Most Israelis are happy with this separation system in place,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

One visitor to the hotel, a local Palestinian student who preferred not to be named, rapidly shifted from excitement to frustration after being informed that the project was aimed at creating dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can have dialogue once Palestinians have equal rights,\u201d he said. \u201cIf Israelis really want to understand Palestinian suffering, they should fight for the wall\u2019s destruction and not stay in a hotel right next to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buttu noted the futility of the initiative, saying that \u201cwe can\u2019t just pretend that it\u2019s easy for Palestinians and Israelis to come together, hold hands, and sing songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a state system of apartheid and settler-colonialism. Unless Israelis recognize this, then there is no point in having these fake gatherings and dialogues.\u201d<\/p>\n

_______________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jews for Justice for Palestinians is a network of Jews who are British or live in Britain, practising and secular, Zionist and not. We oppose Israeli policies that undermine the livelihoods, human, civil and political rights of the Palestinian people. We support the right of Israelis to live in freedom and security within Israel\u2019s 1967 borders. We work to build world-wide Jewish opposition to the Israeli Occupation, with like-minded groups around the world and are a founding member of <\/em>European Jews for a Just Peace<\/em>, a federation of Jewish groups in ten European countries.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 jfjfp.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Banksy hotel opens in Bethlehem, eliciting heated reactions by Palestinians. Adjacent to the graffiti-stained separation wall surrounded by illegal Israeli settlements and next door to the Aida refugee camp, elusive UK artist Banksy now welcomes guests to his latest project: the Walled Off Hotel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89206\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}