Palestinians unlikely to let it be over Sir Paul's concert in Israel

Published on Tuesday 23 September 2008 22:10

IN 1965, the Israeli government banned The Beatles from performing on the grounds they would corrupt the nation's youth. Now the Palestinians want Sir Paul McCartney back in the UK.

The former Beatle, whose lyrics champion peace and harmony, has provoked the ire of Palestinians with his decision to play his first concert in Israel.

Sir Paul has insisted ahead of his performance tomorrow night at Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park that he is "quite apolitical". But Palestinians charge him with betraying the peace and love heritage of The Beatles by performing in Israel, accusing him of ignoring their suffering.

"A lot of Palestinians who adored The Beatles are let down," said Lisa Taraki, a professor at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank and an activist on the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. "Despite appeals, he has not made a single gesture to the Palestinians."

By contrast, there is great anticipation in Israel ahead of the concert, with radio stations giving prominent airtime to Beatles and Wings favourites and historians debating why exactly the Fab Four were banned in 1965.

About 35,000 of the 50,000 tickets have been sold, with a minimum price of 70 for standing space in the park.

Ms Taraki's group believes that international artists should boycott Israel to pressure it into ending the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in similar fashion to international boycotts of South Africa during the apartheid era.

Her group's entreaties to Roger Waters in 2006 led the former Pink Floyd star to change his concert venue from Tel Aviv to a joint Arab-Jewish coexistence village, Neve Shalom.

Sir Paul, who was due to arrive last night, has taken a more easy-going approach to his Middle East visit, telling the Jerusalem Post: "I'm always interested in visiting places. I hear from a lot of people Tel Aviv is a great place."

But William Parry, writing on the pro-Palestinian Electronic Intifada website, asked yesterday: "What will McCartney open with – Pipes of Peace or Ebony and Ivory? Given the reality on the ground, which he refuses to acknowledge, why not open with Live and Let Die to a rapturous Israeli audience?"