ベツレヘムにバンクシーの新作登場、分断の壁を背にキリストの生誕シーン

【ベツレヘムＡＦＰ＝時事】英国の覆面ストリートアーティスト、バンクシーの新作が、クリスマスを間近に控えるパレスチナ自治区ヨルダン川西岸のベツレヘムに登場した。（写真はパレスチナ自治区ヨルダン川西岸のベツレヘムにある英国の覆面ストリートアーティスト、バンクシーのホテル「ウォールド・オフ・ホテル」に展示されたクリスマスをテーマにした新作「ベツレヘムの傷跡」）
　「ベツレヘムの傷跡」と名付けられた今回の作品は、迫撃砲による穴を表現したコンクリートのブロック壁を背に、イエス・キリストの生誕シーンを描いたもの。生まれたばかりのイエス・キリストと、聖母マリア、ヨセフが、壁の穴を通じて背後から照らされる。穴から４方に向かって壁の表面が削られており、クリスマスの星のように見える。
　作品が展示されたのは、ベツレヘムにあるバンクシーのホテル、「ウォールド・オフ・ホテル」。イスラエルとパレスチナ自治区ヨルダン川西岸を分断するためにイスラエルが建設したコンクリート壁を、全ての部屋から見渡すことができる。
　ホテル支配人のウィサム・サルサー氏はＡＦＰに対し、ベツレヘムでパレスチナ人らがどのように生活をしているのかを「もっと考えてもらうため、ベツレヘムの話、クリスマスの話を異なる形で持ちだすのは素晴らしい方法だ」と称賛。
　サルサー氏は、イスラエルによって建てられた壁は「傷跡」だと述べ、壁建設を「支持した全ての人は恥じるべきだ」と語った。
　イスラエルは２００２年、パレスチナ人によるインティファーダ（反イスラエル闘争）を受けて壁の建設に着手。一部はコンクリート製の壁、他の箇所はフェンスで、大部分がヨルダン川西岸内に建てられている。イスラエルは、この壁について攻撃を防ぐために必要だとしているが、パレスチナ人はエルサレムからパレスチナ人を隔てるためのアパルトヘイト（人種隔離）の壁と呼んでいる。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2019/12/23-11:54）

A manger scene juxtaposed against concrete blocks seemingly pierced by a mortar shell: with Christmas looming, the latest Bethlehem offering by secretive artist Banksy appeared Saturday in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Dubbed the Scar of Bethlehem, the baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph are backlit through damaged concrete, chiseled pockmarks exploding out from a gaping hole in four directions to approximate the Christmas Star.
The work is installed at Banksy's Walled-Off Hotel, where all rooms overlook a concrete section of the barrier built by Israel to cut off the occupied West Bank from Israeli territory.
Love and peace are respectively graffiti tagged in English and French on the artistic installation's concrete blocks, while three large wrapped presents are at the forefront of the scene.
It is a nativity, the hotel's manager Wissam Salsaa told AFP after the piece was installed. Banksy has his own contribution to Christmas.
It is a great way to bring up the story of Bethlehem, the Christmas story, in a different way -- to make people think more of how Palestinians live in Bethlehem.
Salsaa calls the Israeli wall a scar that should induce shame in anyone who supported its construction.
Israel began building the separation barrier -- in parts concrete, with other stretches consisting of fencing -- in 2002 during the Palestinian uprising, or intifada.
Built mostly inside the West Bank, Israel says it is necessary to prevent attacks, but Palestinians label it an apartheid wall, separating them from Jerusalem.
- Regular Banksy haunt -
Traditional Bethlehem Christmas festivities will take place next week at the church built on the spot where Christians believe Jesus was born.
The manger scene and hotel -- an establishment opened two years ago -- are far from Banksy's only West Bank imprint.
In 2007, he painted a number of artworks in Bethlehem, including a young girl frisking an Israeli soldier pinned up against a wall.
In 2005, he sprayed nine stencilled images at different locations along the eight-metre-high (27-foot) separation barrier.
They included a ladder on the wall, a little girl carried away by balloons and a window opening onto a peaceful mountain landscape.
Palestinian graffiti artists, too, have made the separation wall a place of political and artistic expression.
Like elsewhere in the world, Banksy's works in the occupied territory have become tourist attractions -- in part due to him often ghosting in to create his works in the dead of night.
The identity of the world's best known graffiti artist remains a mystery and he was not present during the revealing of his latest work.
Banksy is trying to be a voice for those that cannot speak, Salsaa said.
He is creating a new model of resistance through art.
Banksy rose to prominence after his subversive artworks started to appear in public spaces in the United Kingdom in the early 2000s, and he has long worked on themes of violence and conflict.