Video: Separation Wall built in central London as part of Bethlehem Unwrapped festival

The Bethlehem Unwrapped festival in London is trying to recreate the experience of Palestinians living in the Holy Land over the holiday season.

Organizers have done this by creating a life-size replica of Israel's Separation Wall around St. James's Church Piccadilly in central London.

Festival director Justin Butcher mentions in the video above that it took eight months of planning and eight days of construction to create the wall.

"This is a festival of hope, reaching out to the people of Bethlehem behind the wall, celebrating the incredible hope and peace and joy and life of those people" he says. "We're unwrapping the traditional Victorian sentimental images of Christmas and showing this is what Bethlehem today looks like—an eight-metre high concrete separation wall surrounding it."

People are writing messages on the wall to express solidarity with those living behind it in Bethlehem.