# 55 – Shows in Israel

June 24, 2006

Seeing the reports on the Roger Walters concert Thursday night in Neve Shalom (Peace Village), I really regret not joining my daughter and her friends there. He was with Pink Floyd, and parts of ‘Dark Side of the Moon, and ‘The Wall’ were of course performed.

Pink Floyd appeared on the scene when I was just a listener, no longer a concert-attending fan as I was in the 60s. A bit like Supertramp, ELO and then Queen. But their music still grows on me. And the 50-60,000 who DID attend appear to have agreed with me. None complained about the hours of traffic jams they had to endure.

Neve Shalom is about half way between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, established very close to Latrun monastery (where they make great liqueurs) and a large military base. Just wish Roger had not connected his wall with ‘our’ wall. With his call to break all walls down, he implied Israel had control over the reasons for its construction. I would have asked him that if he wanted to tear it down, would he be among those then standing in the gap?

Eliana (our elder daughter) was going to miss Walters, as she already had tickets to see Depeche Mode, who are here next month. But why not see both?

Another show I missed, due to a trip, was Sting. Big regrets there. He really appeared to be happy to be here – and his supporting performer was Matisyahu, the Hassidic rap singer from Brooklyn who has ‘hit the headlines’ with a very successful album, ‘Live at Stubbs’.

At dinner last night, we recalled some of the stars who HAVE been here – and parts of our family have been to most. They include Michael Jackson, Tracey Chapman, Madonna, Guns’n’Roses etc.

I don’t want to write about the happy handshakes between Abbas and Olmert 2 days ago in Petra, Jordan. (You MUST visit Petra!). Bring me a President of a more united people, where the gun is not the rule of law, and I shall start smiling with hope.

And I don’t want to write about the tragic mistakes by the IDF in Gaza. I’m fed up with saying that war means accidents and innocent victims; stop the war and you stop the accidents. I don’t want to write about the town of Sderot, which is fast becoming a ghost town, due to the daily ‘rainfall’ of Kassam rockets from Gaza. And Abbas smiles?

Stephen