Walled Off Hotel opens in West Bank

Rasa - A world-renowned anonymous graffiti artist has surprised Palestinians by opening a 10-room “Walled Off Hotel” in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, drawing attention to the bitter realities of life within the illegal “apartheid wall.”

News ID: 427849

Date: 04 March 2017 - 19:56

RNA - The UK-based artist, known by the pseudonym “Banksy,” opened the three-storey hotel on Friday, coinciding with the centenary of the Balfour Declaration, by which the then British government endorsed the illegal establishment of the Israeli regime on the Palestinian territory.

Banksy designed all the rooms in the first floor in a way that they overlook the wall’s unwelcoming and gloomy concrete slabs, and the upper rooms stand eye-to-eye with the Israeli watch towers that loom over parts of the city.

The artist was either not present at the opening ceremony or appeared in disguise to hide his identity. However, in a two-page press release, he said the hotel has the “worst view in the world.”

Banksy built the hotel in total secrecy over a 14-month period and said that it started accepting bookings from March 11, nine days before it begins as a functioning and genuine place, and not just a political statement.

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