The Walled Off Hotel
The building's exterior in 2017
General information
TypeBoutique hotel
Location182 Caritas Street
Bethlehem, Palestine
Coordinates31°43′09″N 35°12′12″E / 31.7193°N 35.2033°E / 31.7193; 35.2033
OpenedMarch 3, 2017 (2017-03-03)
Website
walledoffhotel.com

The Walled Off Hotel is a boutique hotel designed by anonymous London-based artist Banksy alongside other creatives. It is located in Bethlehem, 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Ben Gurion Airport. Established in March 2017, and initially set out to only be a temporary exhibition and a word play on the Waldorf hotel chain name,[1] the hotel has since attracted nearly 140,000 visitors,[2] thanks in part to its location opposite the portion of the Israeli West Bank Barrier separating Bethlehem from the holy site of Rachel's Tomb.[3]

Established on 3 March 2017, the hotel is generally considered to be a follow-up to Banksy's 2015 Dismaland project, held for five weeks in Weston-Super-Mare in the South-West of England, making a commentary on life in coastal towns in 21st-century Britain. The reaction to the hotel as a work of art and social intervention has been mixed, especially given its location and subject matter. Critics have argued that such a building profits off tragedy, and is a case of war tourism.[4] On the topic of Banksy's Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem, Palestinian artist and activist Rana Bishara criticized the initiative for commodifying the Israeli separation wall while the real wall remains a source of oppression for Palestinians. Bishara also expressed concern over the potential dehumanization of socially disadvantaged areas like the West Bank due to "dark tourism" or "tourism of suffering."[5] Nonetheless, evidence has suggested that the hotel has brought more tourism to areas of the West Bank, in turn raising awareness of the realities of the Palestinians affected by the conflict.[6]

Critics have described some art works as antisemitic and have denounced the Holocaust imagery in several displays: "including a scale whereby one Jewish tooth outweighs hundreds of Palestinian teeth; a glass case containing clothing and shoes of Palestinian children. The painting of Jesus Christ with a sniper’s red dot sight on his head is perceived by critics as an antisemitic libel of Jewish deicide.[7]

References

  1. "Banksy opens Walled Off Hotel in West Bank town of Bethlehem to highlight Palestinian-Israel divide - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. 2017-03-20. Retrieved 2023-10-12.
  2. Fisher, Ian (16 April 2017). "Banksy Hotel in the West Bank: Small, but Plenty of Wall Space". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  3. Worrall, Simon (December 3, 2017). "The Little Town of Bethlehem Has a Surprising History". National Geographic. Archived from the original on March 7, 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  4. Ellis-Petersen, Hannah (7 September 2017). "'Worst view in the world': Banksy opens hotel overlooking Bethlehem wall". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  5. Milani, Tommaso M. (2022-08-08). "Banksy's Walled Off Hotel and the mediatization of street art". Social Semiotics. 32 (4): 545–562. doi:10.1080/10350330.2022.2114730. ISSN 1035-0330. S2CID 251943368.
  6. Cook, Johnathan (22 December 2018). "Inside Banksy's The Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem". The National. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  7. "Art at Banksy's Bethlehem Hotel gives lie to media claim he merely seeks 'dialogue'". 7 March 2017.
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