The British street artist Banksy has bought a sombre Christmas
spirit to a hotel he founded in the West Bank town of Bethlehem , with a
nativity scene evoking the Palestinian- Israeli conflict.
It marks the Bristol-based artist's first foray into the public
spotlight having released a mural in the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, a fortnight ago highlighting homelessness.
Dubbed the “Scar of Bethlehem,”' the artwork features a traditional nativity scene,
a miniature Jesus, Mary and
Joseph under a rendition of Israel's concrete West Bank barrier
punctured by bullet holes, the largest of which resembles a star over
the manger.
Three large wrapped presents sit at the forefront of the scene, while
the words 'peace' and 'love' are graffiti tagged in English and French
on the concrete,
The work is installed at Banksy’s Walled-Off Hotel, which he opened in March 2017,where all rooms
overlook a concrete section of the barrier built by Israel to cut off
the occupied West Bank from Israeli territory,offering
"the worst view in the world."and is filled with original Banksy artwork. The hotel also contains a small museum on
the history of the separation barrier.
Hotel
manager Wissam Salsaa called the work a "nativity scene," saying that
"Banksy has his own contribution to Christmas.""It is a great way to
bring up the story
of Bethlehem, the Christmas story, in a different way -- to make people
think more" of how Palestinians live in Bethlehem, Salsaa says. “Banksy
is trying to remind the world that people of Bethlehem, where
Christmas was started, are not celebrating Christmas like the rest of
the world,” he said.
"Christmas is known for the Star of
Bethlehem, that led people to the birthplace of Jesus," said hotel
manager Wisam Salsa. "You see there is a scar, there is a hole on the
wall that marks the wall and the life in Bethlehem how it is today."
.Israel began building the separation barrier , in parts concrete, with
other stretches consisting of fencing,in 2002 during the Palestinian
uprising, or intifada. Built mostly inside the West Bank, Israel says it is necessary to
prevent attacks, but Palestinians label it an apartheid wall, a symbol of their ongoing oppression, separating
them from Jerusalem. The Palestinians consider the barrier illegal and call it an Israeli
land grab, noting that it has engulfed large chunks of the West Bank
onto the Israeli “side.” Aside
from dominating the landscape, the barrier separates Bethlehem from much
of the land owned by its people, and, crucially, it also severs it from
Jerusalem. The structure, has been ruled illegal by the UN's International Court of Justice.'
Traditional Bethlehem Christmas festivities will take place this week at
the church built on the spot where Christians believe Jesus was born. That is being
continually squeezed by Israeli encroachment and by the imposition of
the winding separation barrier through its land. As the separation
barrier expands, Bethlehem’s territory shrinks and shrinks. Its
continued ability to exist as a viable town reduces every year. The impact of the occupation daily bringing its heavy burden.The Church of the Nativity is famously located in Bethlehem, but pigrims vising the birthplace of Jesus will also witness one of the striking ybols of Israeli occupation - the Apartheid Wall Peoples journeys blocked by checkpoints and thirty foot high slabs of concrete. Nothing calm, nothing bright.
A
longtime critic of the occupation, the manger scene and hotel are far
from Banksy’s only West Bank imprint. as has also created a number of
works in Bethlehem and on the separation barrier itself.
In 2007, he painted a number of artworks in Bethlehem, including a young
girl frisking an Israeli soldier pinned up against a wall.
In 2005, he sprayed nine stenciled images at different locations along the eight-meter-high (27-foot) separation barrier.
They
included a ladder on the wall, a little girl carried away by
balloons and a window opening onto a peaceful mountain landscape.
Banksy also is believed to have sneaked into the Gaza Strip to draw four
murals there.
One
was painted on a remaining piece of a building destroyed during the
2014 war between Israel and Gaza’s ruling Hamas militant group and
featured the Greek goddess Niobe cowering against the rubble of a
destroyed house.
Palestinian graffiti artists, too, have made the separation wall a place of political and artistic expression.
Like elsewhere in the world, Banksy’s works in the occupied territory
have become tourist attractions, in part due to him often ghosting in
to create his works in the dead of night.
“Banksy is trying to be a
voice for those that cannot speak,” Salsa said. "He “is creating a new
model of resistance through art.”
For now I hope you have a peaceful holiday and a happy new year.
Banksy art on Israel's highly controversial West Bank barrier in Abu Dis
in 2005.
