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Banksy Opens West Bank Hotel Promising 'The Worst View In The World'

Banksy Opens West Bank Hotel Promising 'The Worst View In The World'
The hotel is right beside the wall which divides the territories
AP
The hotel is right beside the wall which divides the territories

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

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.

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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