“Palestine… The Largest Concentration Camp…”

“Palestine… The Largest Concentration Camp…”
“Palestine… The Largest Concentration Camp…,” 2002 (Claremont)

This mural was painted in 2002 and centers on an Israeli Defense Force solider and Palestinian woman with the caption, “Palestine. The largest concentration camp in the world! 13 million innocent people tortured, denied their freedom.” Written over an Irish flag and a hand making a peace sign, (which is mirrored by a similar gesture on a Palestinian flag on the other side) is the Irish republican prisoner phrase “Tiocfaidh âr la” and its Arabic translation, “Yomna qadam” which means “Our day will come” (Rolston 462). The repetition of a phrase in multiple languages like this is a common feature of a lot of international murals and is an important indicator of audience. It aligns people who can understand one of the phrase iterations with people who can understand the other since the message is understood in either situation and creates almost a snippet of dialogue which transcends language barriers. The effect certainly reinforces the underlying ideal of a single universal struggle for liberation which perhaps manifests itself differently in different places but ultimately has the same noble and unifying characteristics. These instances of languages besides English also put the English that is used—on these political murals in Ireland and in some of the writing on the wall in Palestine—in relief. These murals have specific messages to relay to their viewers, as shown by the directness of the caption in this mural, and often use English to reach their audience—both the people locally walking by them and viewing them internationally—without as much room for interpretation.

Political Murals of Bogside and Palestine

Representations of Palestine

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