’Worst view in the world’ : Banksy opens hotel overlooking Bethlehem wall | World news

Welcome to the wall - artist Banksy opens Bethlehem hotel
▻http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-israel-palestinians-banksy-idUKKBN16A1WK

Street-art : Banksy décore un hôtel en Cisjordanie
▻http://www.francetvinfo.fr/economie/emploi/metiers/art-culture-edition/street-art-banksy-decore-un-hotel-en-cisjordanie_2082163.html

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Worst view in the world’: Banksy opens hotel overlooking Bethlehem wall

Exclusive: British artist launches Walled Off hotel in hope of bringing Israeli tourists – and dialogue – to West Bank city

The Walled Off Hotel by Banksy – in pictures
▻https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/03/banksy-opens-bethlehem-barrier-wall-hotel

Banksy’s ‘Walled Off Hotel’ is a form of gentrification
Tamara Nassar on March 6, 2017
►http://mondoweiss.net/2017/03/banksys-walled-gentrification

(...) While the hotel is oiled with political commentary through its grotesque view of the wall and its militarized aesthetic and charged artwork, it fails to make any official political statement that recognizes the perpetual current of ethnic cleansing manifesting itself in the illegal occupation, Israeli apartheid, and the continued demolition and annexation of Palestinian land.

In a statement, or a disclaimer, placed at the museum’s entrance inside of the hotel, Banksy writes:

“You made it! Welcome to the West Bank – a place steeped in history and conflict. Now might seem a good time to pick a side – except don’t. The Wall is a lie. It sells the idea there is a simple divide between the people here, but there isn’t. Most Palestinians live in great disadvantage to their neighbors. Many Israelis are opposed to the cruelties inflicted by the wall, but other Israelis are deeply fearful for their security. This exhibition looks at the wall from many angles, and so contains material some people may find upsetting.”

Not only does Banksy’s language undermine the Palestinian struggle and reduce it to a mere “disadvantage” in comparison to Israelis, but it also encourages this false non-partisan silence when it comes to the Palestinian Question, falsely depoliticizing it and misleading his guests into assuming this pseudo-neutrality, and effectively siding with the oppressor. It encourages a veiled forgiving attitude towards what is, in fact not “a simple divide between the people,” as Banksy writes. Rather, it is simple and present and material (...)