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Ramallah Municipality Censors Artist Billboards RAMALLAH, July 13 – The Ramallah Municipality has physically removed two billboards created by artists Emily Jacir and Yazid Anani claiming that the works were "problematic".The municipality gave neither advance warning nor specific reasons for why the billboards were removed. The Mayor of Ramallah and the Director of the Municipality have refused requests to cease censorship and to put the billboards back up for public viewing. The works stem from Jacir and Anani's series of public interventions entitled “Al Riyadh”. The works are critical of the recent proliferation of gated communities and were an attempt to raise awareness and spark dialogue regarding the destruction of Ramallah's architectural heritage, the decline of the Palestinian collective political project in Ramallah and the emergence of a city entrapped by neo-liberal politics and neo-capitalist structures under occupation. The billboards featured the creation of a new gated community in place of the old architecture in the heart of Ramallah Taht as well as a new business tower replacing Ramallah's fruit and vegetable market. The works which were organized in collaboration with the Municipality were put up on Saturday morning July 10th at 9 a.m. After 24 hours the Municipality removed them and took them to their storage space in Beitunia. In a related incident an unknown party has also censored the work of Inass Yassin by intentionally removing hundreds of posters she put up in less then 24 hours after she hung them. They were re-prints of a poster for a screening which took place in Ramallah in 1971 at Cinema Al-Waleed of the famous Abdul Halim Hafez film "Ebi foq il Shajara". It featured the lead actors about to kiss. No reason has been given as to why her posters were removed. Both works were produced for the exhibition "Ramallah- the fairest of them all?" which was the second in a series of exhibitions on Palestinian cities produced by the Ethnographic and Art Museum at Birzeit University. An understanding had been reached with the Municipality prior to the exhibition in which it was agreed that the billboards and posters would be displayed in public spaces for one month. “Al Riyadh” is sponsored by Qattan Foundation, Bank of Palestine and the Belgian Technical Cooperation, and produced by the Ethnographic Museum and Art at Birzeit University.