Roger Waters Concert

Here's a report from War on Want on Roger Waters' recent concert (June 22) in Israel, at the "mixed" community Neve Shalom.

The crowd of 50,000--mostly Israeli Jews, due to the relatively high prices--received Waters enthusiastically, and reacted positively to his subtle and his direct criticisms of the (apartheid) Wall. War on Want reports: "It was not until the encore that Waters decided to speak out directly against the Occupation, asking Israelis to tear down the wall!', before launching into Pink Floyd mega-hit Another Brick in the Wall."

We learn from the report too that Sting recently visited Palestinian refugee camps and has called the occupation "an obscenity." (Recall Sting's collaboration with Cheb Mami on the 1999 hit "Desert Rose" and the boost the video gave to the Jaguar Corporation.) I'm still looking for more information on Sting's trip...

On a side note, it turns out that Waters' father worked in Palestine between 1934 and 1938, a period of Palestinian history that I'm quite interested in. (See my Memories of Revolt: The 1936-39 Rebellion and the Palestinian National Past.) According to the report, "The night before the concert, Waters met with Palestinian musicians at the Edward Said Consortium of Music in East Jerusalem as part of a tour organised by UK anti-poverty group War on Want. He recalled that his mother would receive letters from his Dad telling of the migration of rich Jews into Palestine and their hostile attitude toward the Arab people."

Tags: Israel, Palestine, Roger Waters