I thought Peteet's article was interesting and thought provoking. When society hears the word graffiti, it creates a negative image in our head. We associate it with gangs and criminals. Graffiti is known to show-up in large cities and poor neighborhoods. In addition, graffiti is probably most well-known for creating an identity amongst people. In gangs, individuals often have "tag names," where they spray a letter, word, symbol, picture, etc. on buildings, cars, and homes. It's a way of saying. "hey, I belong to this group; I'm proud to a part of this group, and; this is what I stand for." While the images in the West Bank may have differed in artistry, they possess the same underlying meanings. Images were used to foster entire communities and establish power. As Julie Peteet explains, graffiti has been used in the West Bank to influence political action. Some of the images and words shown in her article include "Hamas,"and a Palestinian flag (painted in their native white, red, green, and black colors).
On page 16, I found it intriguing that graffiti was used to promote religious equality and tolerance of religion. For example, in Ramallah a string of graffitied text read, "Let the churches and mosques embrace each other in national unity."
The main idea I captured from the article was that graffiti has been used in more ways than one could imagine. There is no true limit to what graffiti can represent. While trying to find more information in regards to the writing on the walls, I found a YouTube video that provide a strong visual representation of what Peteet is writing about. The video scans the graffiti on the Bethlehem Wall, and can be
seen below.
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