Conductor Mr Daniel Barenboim said today he planned to give a concert in the West Bank Palestinian city of Ramallah as soon as possible, after the Israeli army barred a scheduled performance last week.
"I will play in Ramallah soon, Barenboim," an Argentine-born Israeli citizen, told Germany's N-TV television. He said music can connect people in the war zone and that he believed it would help to build bridges between Israelis and Palestinians.
"The Palestinians will then see that not all Israelis are soldiers and the Israelis will see that not all Palestinians are terrorists," Mr Barenboim said. There is no alternative to peace.
Last Wednesday the Israeli army barred Mr Barenboim from performing in Ramallah, saying it could not guarantee his safety because he is Israeli.
"The past of our peoples forces us to search for creative ways to end the spiral of violence," Mr Barenboim said in Berlin.
Mr Barenboim had announced his intention to hold the performance in a effort to foster dialogue over ways to end more than 17 months of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed.