sarzha's journal

"Bank see. Bank see," repeated a Bethlehem taxi driver as he waved us over to his yellow car. "Tour. Five pictures on wall. Famous." He pulled out a binder with laminated photos of stencil graffiti: a dove wearing a bulletproof vest, a girl patting down a soldier...

Wait, Banksy – the British graffiti artist-cum-prankster? As (in)famous Banksy had become among art circles, I was not expecting to hear his name on the lips of a West Bank taxi driver.

But graffiti it and they will come. Thanks in part to Banksy, graffiti on the West Bank barrier has become a major tourist attraction in Bethlehem, right behind the Church of the Nativity where Jesus was born. The 8 meter high concrete wall built by Israel as a security perimeter around the West Bank is a controversial symbol of Israel's control. For 30 shekels (about 8 US dollars), a taxi driver will drop you off at a dusty road running alongside a colorful section of the graffitied concrete barrier. He'll even take photos of you in front of psychedelic peace symbols and Martin Luther King Jr. quotes.

While graffiti as its origin as a subversive art, most the figures that balloon across the West Bank barrier are hackneyed: phrases like "LOVE WINS" and an imitation of Alice in Wonderland. Some of the words are in French or German but the vast majority appears in English---the lingua franca of the international tourist. One piece of graffiti just says it: "I L<3VE TOURISTS."

The ironic sincerity of I L<3VE TOURISTS cuts straight into what may seem uncomfortable about the graffiti. Genuine political struggle is made into a tourist attraction, but at the same time, tourists who snap these photos give voice to that political struggle. Do taxi drivers trucking tourists over think of their jobs in ideological terms? Or is it just another way to make a living?

On the Israeli side of the concrete wall, all is blank.