Banksy returned to Bethlehem

[dipsydoodle]

read this if you're not sure who Banksy : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksy In actual fact very people know who he really is.

[XemaSab]

1. Classic... I was wondering about him the other day....

He needs to come to Southern California more. :)

[devilgrrl]

2. That's graffiti and a destruction of private property!!!! That's bad! This is SERIES!!

:sarcasm:

You know someone is going to respond that way...

[dipsydoodle]

7. That's what he wants

The BBC managed to interview him by telephone and that's what he wants : total destruction of the wall which shouldn't be there anyway.

Odd thing is that the wall is now worth a huge bundle. A picture of pensioners bowling with bombs by graffiti artist Banksy was sold in London for £102,000, breaking a record for his work.

[Tom Joad]

10. grll, you'd be surprised about that such things are said

in seriousness. with all the stuff being done to Palestinians, while during the hundreds of demonstrations that have taken place against the illegal wall in Bil'in, we have people who argue that when people take it upon themselves to remove a fence placed in their village by the military is "an act of violence". right here, on DU

[KamaAina]

3. This month's National Geo has quite the article on Bethlehem

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/2007-12/bethlehem/finkel-text.html

This is not how Mary and Joseph came into Bethlehem, but this is how you enter now. You wait at the wall. It's a daunting concrete barricade, three stories high, thorned with razor wire. Standing beside it, you feel as if you're at the base of a dam. Israeli soldiers armed with assault rifles examine your papers. They search your vehicle. No Israeli civilian, by military order, is allowed in. And few Bethlehem residents are permitted out—the reason the wall exists here, according to the Israeli government, is to keep terrorists away from Jerusalem....

At the summit of Bethlehem's central hill is Manger Square, a cobblestoned plaza fronting the Church of the Nativity. The tallest and most prominent structure here is a mosque. Many of the gift shops are shuttered, relics of a more peaceful time. Tourism is low; religious pilgrims are shuttled in and out by guides—a quick stop at Manger Square, then a speedy departure down the hill and back out through the wall, returning to Jerusalem. Hotels are mostly empty. Few visitors spend the night. Unemployment in Bethlehem, by the mayor's estimate, is 50 percent, and many families are living from meal to meal....

At the checkpoints, Christians are treated like all other Bethlehem residents: with extreme suspicion. Even the mayor, Victor Batarseh—Bethlehem's mayor, by city ordinance, must be Christian—is not allowed to remain on the Israeli side of the wall past 7 p.m. "It's degrading," says Batarseh. "If I'm invited to cocktails in Jerusalem, I can't go because I don't have permission." He is 73 years old....

Now he's thinking of leaving. He has a sister in California and four brothers in Honduras. "Our family," he says, "will be entirely gone from the Holy Land for the first time since Christ. And I'll sell my hosh to Muslims. They'll consider it a victory—another one off the Christians! How can the Christian world accept this?"

"No Arabs After 7 PM"? Hmmm... sounds familiar... "Whites Only After Dark", anyone? :grr:

It would be somewhat of a stretch to include me in "the Christian world", and even I'm having a hard time accepting this! :(

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. Unlike most artists, Banksy seems to be getting better as time goes on!

Thanks for the update!!

[Duncan Grant]

5. Recommended!

'Pictures' really are worth a thousand words. Great post! :thumbsup:

[Matariki]

6. Very nice. One of my favorite current artists.

Absolutely LOVE the piece with the little girl frisking/arresting the soldier.

[alfredo]

8. Say it with flowers, one of my favorite by him.

His site: http://www.banksy.co.uk/



this one is fun too.



Not fun, just true

[truedelphi]

9. Very powerful and strangely uplifting.

I live for the day when the occuypying soldiers get frisked by the children of whatever territory is being occupied.

[Tom Joad]

11. thank you thank you thank you...

i opened this up at work and lol.

this is great. thanks Ed.