Palestinian artist paints murals on Israeli barrier

Spateen's work fills much of the concrete outside secretive artist Banksy's Walled-Off Hotel, a now iconic section of the barrier which the Zionist regime constructed to cut off the occupied West Bank.

His murals include an enormous portrait of George Floyd, the African American killed by former US policeman Derek Chauvin.

"I feel like he's a Palestinian man. He has the same issues we have," Spateen told AFP, after completing his latest work showing a sniper rifle underneath east Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock mosque compound.

Spateen said visually relating Palestinian life under Israeli occupation was an important tool to keep alive global awareness of the decades-old conflict.

The murals "convey the image of Palestine to the world", Spateen said, after spending four hours to complete his latest work under a blazing sun, at the base of a watch tower.

Israel claims the barrier, built mostly inside the West Bank, is necessary to prevent attacks, but Palestinians label it an apartheid wall, separating them from Jerusalem (Al-Quds).

Spateen has also portrayed football star Lionel Messi kicking a ball through chains, an image inspired by Argentina's 2018 decision to call off a friendly with Israel.

He said the project was inspired in part by images of tear gas fired by Israeli forces to suppress Palestinian protests and unrest as well as dust-filled photos from Gaza following Israeli air strikes.