Banksy’s Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem, which closed following the October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, has reopened as a “cultural platform that carries the narrative of Palestine.”

The British street artist opened the guesthouse across from the West Bank barrier in 2017; nearly every window looks out onto the 30-foot-high concrete wall capped with barbed wire, advertised on its website as “the worst view in the world.” The nine-room hotel functions as a museum, art gallery, bookstore, and spray-paint shop, and was conceived as both a tourist draw for residents and a pointed lesson for international audiences about life in the embattled enclave. 

Wisam Salsaa, the manager of the guesthouse, told The Art Newspaper: “Closing our doors during the devastating assault on Gaza was not an easy decision—and now we reopen with hope.” He added that the hotel symbolizes more than a hotel for Palestinians, and especially those in Bethlehem, but a needed bridge to the outside world. “It has become a vehicle for the amplification of voices of peace,” he says. “Through the hotel’s art gallery and with the extraordinary work of Palestinian artists, it stands as a living testament to resilience, identity and the unbroken spirit of a people who refuse to disappear.”