#sumud

  • Inside Banksy’s The Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem - The National
    https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/inside-banksy-s-the-walled-off-hotel-in-bethlehem-1.804845
    https://www.thenational.ae/image/policy:1.804837:1545315485/image.jpg?f=16x9&q=0.6&w=1200&$p$f$q$w=70c86c9

    ... unlike Girl with Balloon and Dismaland, Banksy appears uncharacteristically reluctant to follow through with the destruction of his Bethlehem creation. Some 21 months later, it seems to have become a permanent feature of this small city’s tourist landscape.

    Given that #Banksy is notoriously elusive, it is difficult to be sure why he has made an exception for The Walled Off Hotel. But given his well-known sympathy for the Palestinian cause, a few reasons suggest themselves. One is that, were he to abandon the hotel, it would delight the Israeli military authorities. They would love to see The Walled Off Hotel disappear – and with it, a major reason to focus on a particularly ugly aspect of Israel’s occupation. In addition, dismantling the hotel might echo rather uncomfortably Israel’s long-standing policy of clearing Palestinians off their land – invariably to free-up space for Jewish settlement.

    Israel strenuously claims the wall was built to aid security by keeping out Palestinian “terrorists”. But the wall’s path outside The Walled Off Hotel seals off Bethlehem from one of its major holy sites, Rachel’s Tomb, and has allowed Jewish religious extremists to take it over.

    A rare success story
    In sticking by the hotel, Banksy appears to have been influenced by Palestinian “#sumud”, Arabic for steadfastness, a commitment to staying put in the face of Israeli pressure and aggression. But significantly, there is a practical consideration: The Walled Off Hotel has rapidly become a rare success story in the occupied territories, boosting the struggling Palestinian economy. That has occurred in spite of Israel’s best efforts to curb tourism to Bethlehem, including by making a trip through the wall and an Israeli checkpoint a time-consuming and discomfiting experience.

    #Palestine #Mur

  • Jérusalem : L’effondrement économique de Jérusalem-Est : stratégies pour son redressement -
    Nur Arafeh | 16 décembre 2016
    http://www.ism-france.org/analyses/L-effondrement-economique-de-Jerusalem-Est-strategies-pour-son-redressem

    Cet article de Nur Arafeh, membre de l’équipe politique de Al-Shabaka, se concentre sur l’effondrement économique de Jérusalem-Est intentionnellement conçu par Israël, ce qui rend la ville pratiquement invivable pour les Palestiniens, de manière à la maintenir sous contrôle juif. Ce faisant, le propos de cet exposé est de fournir aux personnes concernées par le sort de la ville une analyse qui leur permette de comprendre les objectifs d’Israël, ainsi que d’expoer certaines recommandations politiques pour stimuler son développement économique.

    L’exposé se concentre sur la détérioration de deux secteurs qui furent des atouts stratégiques majeurs, le tourisme et les marchés commerciaux de Jérusalem-Est, qui illustrent le dépérissement économique. Il explore également les initiatives prises à Jérusalem-Est pour encourager le sumud , ou ténacité, pour défier les multiples obstacles imposés par les autorités iraéliennes d’occupation et il se termine par des préconisations sur la façon d’amplifier le sumud dans la ville et de restaurer sa capacité à un développement économique limité possible sous occupation.

    #sumud