The Walled Off Hotel used to be a pottery workshop.
The Walled Off Hotel used to be a pottery workshop. Now it seems set to attract crowds of people when it opens on March 20.
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Banksy has collaborated on and reportedly financed the West Bank lodgings, which overlook the wall separating Israel from the Palestinian Territories.
According to the British artist, the hotel “offers a warm welcome to people from all sides of the conflict and across the world.”
It’s owner, Wisam Salsaa added:
“This is the hotel that has the worst view in the whole world; the view of the wall. So I think it’s a great experience for people to come and stay here, [to] try to feel how locals in Bethlehem would feel being captured between four walls.”
Israel says the wall is a necessity to ward off terror attacks. However, the International Court of Justice says the barrier is illegal and Palestinians have labelled it a ploy to grab land.
Portrayed throughout the hotel, much of Bansky’s work draws on the conflict in the region.
EXCLUSIVE. #BANKSY #WALLEDOFFHOTEL this is the big picture of what Banksy have a glimpse of this morning in Bethlehem #c4news pic.twitter.com/8MslAE6WXq
— Krishnan Guru-Murthy (@krishgm) March 3, 2017
The street artist has styled it to resemble “an English gentleman’s club from colonial times,” according to a statement, which appears to acknowledge Britain’s historical role in the Middle East.