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Banksy’s Grim Tour of Gaza: Watch a Mini Documentary by the Shadowy Street Artist

The world’s most mysterious street artist released a 2-minute documentary online Wednesday that details the horrors of Gaza—allegedly shot by the man himself.

“Make this the year YOU discover a new destination.”

That welcoming tagline serves as the opening title card to a 2-minute documentary that the legendary U.K. street artist Banksy posted to his website Wednesday evening. But in typical Bansky fashion, what follows is a an eye-opening short film, Welcome to Gaza.

A man—presumably Banksy—is seen traveling by car and then climbing through what he calls “a network of illegal tunnels” before entering Gaza. The camera homes in on children playing in the rubble.

“The locals like it so much they never leave,” text says over the screen, “(because they’re not allowed to),” followed by shots of IDF soldiers.

The “tourism” video includes a statistic on Operation Protective Edge, a military operation launched by Israel in 2014 that it claims leveled 18,000 homes. Also included is footage of drone strikes—accompanied by American voices—locals voicing their disapproval at the state of things, and footage of the notoriously mysterious street artist stenciling several works on rock walls in Gaza. Banksy’s publicist Jo Brooks has confirmed that the video, as well as the four new graffiti works unveiled in Gaza, are all authentic.

“Gaza is often described as ‘the world’s largest open air prison’ because no one is allowed to enter or leave. But that seems a bit unfair to prisons—they don’t have their electricity and drinking water cut off randomly almost every day,” Banksy wrote on his website.

The video ends by focusing on a message graffiti’d in red letters on a wall:

“If we wash our hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless we side with the powerful—we don’t remain neutral.”

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Islamic Super Heroes Comic Launched

New comic book created by Naif al-Mutawa and published by Teshkeel Comics features characters who develop extraordinary abilities after coming into contact with Noor Stones - ancient gems imbued with power and wisdom


The cover of the first issue of the 99, a comic featuring superheroes inspired by the qualities of Allah. The superheroes are 99 characters who develop extraordinary abilities after coming into contact with Noor Stones, ancient gems imbued with power and wisdom


More pictures here.

Jameel prize (Turner prize of Islamic Art) winner announced

Afruz Amighi has been chosen as the winner of the Jameel international art prize, touted as the Islamic art world's equivalent to the Turner prize, for her painting 1001 Pages. Nine artists were shortlisted for the award, worth £25,000, whose work the panel judges to 'contribute to a broader debate about Islamic culture'. Zaha Hadid, patron of the Jameel prize, hopes the biannual event will inspire future generations of contemporary Muslim artists. Shortlisted works can be seen in a temporary display gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum until 12 September 2009

You can see some of the work here.

Palestinians are making art out of adversity

From theatre in a Bethlehem refugee camp to the Venice biennale, Palestinians are making art out of adversity - and doing it with grace, finds Ahdaf Soueif, organiser of the Palestine festival of literature. Read the article here.

Website of Venice biennale here.

The day Alhambra was destroyed...again

The fabulous Alhambra fortress in Granada, jewel of Islamic architecture in Europe, has been swindled out of millions of euros by a ticket scam, allegedly hatched by its doorkeepers, travel agencies, a tour guide and a branch of a major bank.

Spain's most spectacular tourist landmark was almost brought to its knees by an €8m (£7m) fraud, criminal investigators reported at the weekend. Up to 50 people are implicated in the scam, which involved 800,000 faked or unauthorised entry tickets doled out over three years in a process described by investigators as "anarchic and uncontrollable".

The Alhambra, the medieval symbol of Muslim rule in Spain with its breathtaking beauty and spectacular hilltop setting, has attracted visitors for centuries. The American writer Washington Irving lived within its ruins to write Tales of the Alhambra in 1829. Bill Clinton visited in 1997 to share with Hillary and Chelsea what he remembered from his student days as "the world's most beautiful sunset". And Salman Rushdie's epic novel The Moor's Last Sigh, ends with a paean to "the glory of the Moors, their triumphant masterpiece ... Europe's Red Fort".

An estimated three million people visit the Alhambra every year. But not all receipts were finding their way into its coffers. The fraud has reportedly plunged the institution into a crisis bordering bankruptcy.

Members of the Alhambra's staff, a senior guide and the BBVA bank are accused of selling tickets to unauthorised travel agents, or dishing them out indiscriminately. As a result, ordinary visitors who had reserved supposedly time-and-date restricted tickets months ahead found the Alhambra's filigree-arched chambers, its pleasure courts and water gardens crammed with tourists whose numbers far exceeded the permitted maximum.

Similar thing seems to have happened earlier as well:

A COURT in Granada has heard how up to 800 people illegally passed through the entrance to the Alhambra every 30 minutes.

A year-long judicial investigation into claims of illicit ticket sales for the 14th century Islamic palace found 10,000 counterfeit admissions were passed on to unsuspecting tourists.

Magistrates in Granada were told some tickets were sold twice in a bid to cram more visitors into the Alhambra - Spain’s most popular tourist attraction. Management company Patronato de la Alhambra believes up to 38 of its employees financially benefited from this scam.

The investigation also claims cashiers at bank BBVA sold up to 70 tickets at a time to one person although the maximum individual allocation is only five.

A total of 46 people were arrested between December 2005 and February this year. All deny any wrongdoing.