Banksy Opens West Bank 'Walled Off Hotel' Looking Over Wall Dividing Israeli And Palestinian Territories

It will be open to the public later this month.

Street artist Banksy has opened a hotel just metres away from the wall that divides the Israeli and Palestinian territories on the West Bank.

The Walled Off Hotel will open to the public on 11 March but the media were given a preview on Friday.

The artist claimed it was the “hotel with the worst view in the world”.

The hotel is right beside the wall which divides the territories
The hotel is right beside the wall which divides the territories
AP

The highlight is room number three, known as “Banksy’s Room,” where guests sleep in a king-size bed underneath Banksy’s artwork showing a Palestinian and an Israeli in a pillow fight, the Associated Press reported.

The hotel also features a presidential suite and a museum with the artist’s politically-charged work.

It has the markings of a gentleman’s club from the English colonial period.

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A wall decorated with security cameras and slingshots is seen in the bar area of the hotel.
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The hotel's presidential suite.
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Another view of the presidential suite.
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An employee stands in the restaurant area of the hotel.
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A Banksy wall painting showing Israeli border policeman and Palestinian in a pillow fight is seen in one of the rooms.
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An Israeli security watch tower is seen from one of the rooms.
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Gavin Grindon of the University of Essex, who co-curated with Banksy the museum inside The Walled Off Hotel.
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Clocks on the wall in the bar area tell the time around the world.
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A doorman stands at the entrance of the hotel.
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A Banksy work on the wall of the hotel.
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A wall decorated with models of drones and a painting of Jesus with a sniper's dot on his forehead in the hotel.

The entrance to one small niche accommodates a life-size figure of Arthur James Balfour signing his 1917 letter that came to be known as the Balfour declaration, and was the basis for the international push for the creation of Israel.

The cheapest rooms were available from $30 (£25) a night.

The whole project took 14 months to complete and was kept under complete secrecy, in accordance with Banksy’s request to protect his anonymity.

According to the Guardian, the artist’s team has insisted the hotel is a proper business venture, not an art stunt.

Banksy told Channel 4 News: “Walls are hot right now, but I was into them long before Trump made it cool.”

A number of Banksy works have appeared on the barrier between the territories in the past.

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