A symbol of hope Fact file
Ashleigh Stewart checks out the hotel with the ‘worst view in the world’.
The approach to Bethlehem’s The Walled Off Hotel is as confronting as it is comical. To your left, you have the imposing hotel with its neon sign, underneath which is a life-sized plaster chimpanzee dressed as a 1930s bellboy, the suitcase he’s carrying overflowing with women’s underwear.
Just metres to the right, you have the towering concrete border wall, the starkest reminder of the plight of the Palestinian people – and not the least bit funny.
But it’s this juxtaposition of the completely serious, and ironic humour that has put this hotel on the map.
Well that, and its rather well-known creator: Banksy.
The Walled-Off Hotel opened in March 2017, and has been affectionately nicknamed ‘‘the Banksy hotel’’. It has come to symbolise the ‘‘creative, nonviolent resistance’’ of the Palestinian people, a cause Banksy himself has long supported.
The elusive street artist has been to Palestine many times to paint murals and draw attention to the cause. He is seen as a driving factor behind an upswing in tourism to the country, and an increase in young people visiting the West Bank.
The nine-room hotel, said to boast the ‘‘worst view in the world’’ because of its location overlooking the separation wall, is a work of art in itself. Each room is decorated by a local or wellknown artist – a fact you’re reminded of at check-in when you’re given a checklist of each piece of art in the room (right down to the antique hairbrush on your oak dresser), and asked to ensure everything is in good condition and in its rightful place.
The hotel is full of visual jokes and metaphors typical of what people have come to expect of Banksy, as well as original Banksy artworks adorning the walls.
The over-arching British Colonial theme is a nod to the Western World’s interference and subsequent failure in the West Bank. Afternoon tea is served in fine bone china for the same reason. The staircase to the rooms is accessed only by waving your key at a statue’s chest, which swings open a bookcase to the stairwell.
The executive decision was made to not serve an extensive food menu to encourage people to invest in local businesses.
The hotel employs only Palestinian staff, and offers double the salaries offered elsewhere in Bethlehem. Beds range from a barracks-style dormitory option to an ostentatious presidential suite.
The cherry on top for those who stay in one of the nine rooms is that Banksy designed a range of prints and sculptures, each comprising a piece of the security wall, which only hotel guests are able to buy.
It’s certainly a Banksy-lover’s heaven but the street artist has an important co-conspirator in the creation of the West Bank’s new landmark. Wissam Salsa is the co-creator and general manager of the hotel. So that makes him not only one of the few people in the world who have met Banksy, but he’s also his business partner and a trusted friend.
The pair met more than a decade ago, on one of the artist’s first public displays of pro-Palestinian support, when he arrived to paint his first mural on the border wall.
Salsa was hired as his guide. But far from being excited at the prospect of working with such a
high-profile client, Salsa had no idea who he was – much less that he was a famous artist whom millions around the world craved to see in the flesh.
The two kept in touch and collaborated on a number of other projects – such as the Alternativity, a much-celebrated nativity play staged outside the hotel with British film-maker Danny Boyle, before it came time to focus on something permanent.
‘‘I always thought I was so lucky because I’m connected to Banksy and I always thought that if he does anything with me I’ll be happy,’’ Salsa tells me over a beer, under the watchful gaze of the fake security cameras in the lobby of The Walled Off.
The hotel was actually Banksy’s idea, Salsa says.
Banksy had told Salsa to find a location, and he came back with an abandoned old pottery shop that was just metres from the border wall.
Salsa kept Banksy’s involvement a secret through the months of construction and fit-out, even erecting a fake tie-dyed guesthouse sign. Towards the end, the artist secretly visited the hotel and Salsa ‘‘locked him inside for several weeks’’.
In that time, The Walled Off took its true form. Banksy painted original art works for the walls. He chose the carpet. He even chose the salt and pepper shakers.
But The Walled Off isn’t just a hotel.
It’s also a museum and an art gallery – both of More information:
New Zealand passport holders travelling to Israel for a visit of 90 days or fewer do not require a visa unless they are travelling for work or study. To cross into Palestine, there are no border checks and no visa is necessary, but carry your passport for the way back.
Staying safe:
SafeTravel states to avoid non-essential travel to the West Bank outside East Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho, and Ramallah. You should exercise increased caution in these areas.
Getting there:
Thai Airways flies from Auckland to Tel Aviv, with a stop in Bangkok, for about $2100. The journey takes around 26 hours. From Tel Aviv, travel to Jerusalem, then cross over into the West Bank.
It’s easy to take a public bus from Jerusalem to the West Bank, or to take an Israeli taxi. Bus 231, bound for Beit Jala, can be found at the Damascus Gate bus station in Jerusalem. It leaves roughly every half hour. It will stop in the middle of Bethlehem.
On the way back, take the same bus or find an Israeli taxi. Palestinian taxi drivers are not allowed to enter Jerusalem. which were Banksy’s idea, Salsa says. The museum attempts to right years of Israeli-led narrative on the conflict, setting out a moving account of how the occupation has affected a country whose borders have changed a seemingly endless number of times.
The next-door Wall Mart is a one-stop shop for stencils and spray-paint for others who want to add their own artworks to the wall.
‘‘I’ve had ministers who cried here. They say it’s given the whole message to the world,’’ Salsa says.
The in-house art gallery, which Salsa believes is the first gallery in Bethlehem, and the largest in Palestine, is a new focal point.
Every 45 days there’s a new solo exhibit, and there’s a range of art contests in the works. Of course, this was all Banksy’s idea too, Salsa says.
‘‘Bethlehem is different, we are under occupation, the movement of people is very slow here. Art is not really a big thing,’’ Salsa says.
‘‘The gallery is our voice, it’s a new platform for Palestinians to sell their art. We are bringing Palestinians to the world, we are selling Palestinian art for tens of thousands of dollars in Bethlehem. People used to just buy it as charity – now they buy it as art.’’
When the hotel opened almost two years ago, it drew crowds from around the world, mostly Banksy devotees eager to get a glimpse into the artist’s mind and a cause he’s passionate about.
Salsa now believes more people are coming to the West Bank for so-called ‘‘Banksy tourism’’ than for the Church of the Nativity, the place in Bethlehem where Jesus is said to have been born.
In 2017, the United Nation’s World Tourism Organisation placed Palestine at the top of its fastest-growing destinations list.
Many, including Salsa, attribute that to Banksy. Banksy is seemingly now embedded in the fabric of Bethlehem – he, and his loyal followers, have stamped his mark just about everywhere you look.
Outside the Milk Grotto, where the Holy Family is said to have once sought refuge before fleeing to Egypt, a simple spray-painted dedication reads ‘‘#WeAreBanksy’’.
And there are plenty more odes to the artist like that dotted about the place.
They have become a symbol of the ‘‘creative, non-violent resistance’’ of the people of Palestine, Salsa says, and its people protect them like ‘‘national treasures’’.
‘‘I think the Palestinians look to us as a monument or a shrine in Bethlehem.’’