Israel Ponders Offer to Tear Down West Bank Wall in Return for Pink Floyd Reunion Concert

posted at 3:09 pm on June 2, 2009 by dougpowers
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AIDA REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (PNN): Roger Waters, co-founder of the legendary band Pink Floyd, visited the West Bank and told the Associated Press that he would “give a concert in a flash if Israel’s West Bank wall is torn down.”

Not to be out-matched as a deal maker, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is said to have counter-offered Waters, dispatching the following email to the bassist: “We’ll consider it if you promise that you’ll be performing with the remaining living members of the band and do the full, album-length versions of both Shine On and Echoes.”

Israel says it built the wall as a defense against Palestinian militants, and Israel’s final decision on whether or not to tear down the West Bank wall would obviously hinge on how many Palestinians are Pink Floyd fans and how long those who are perpetrating violence are distracted by the music.

There is precedent for such an offer, though few are aware of it. Waters performed The Wall live in Berlin in 1990, mere months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, heroically fulfilling U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s 1987 proclamation, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall and Roger Waters and an all-star cast including Cyndi Lauper, Bryan Adams and Van Morrison will perform right here.” Gorbachev was a big Pink Floyd fan and the wall quickly came down, but Reagan Administration officials had edited Reagan’s quote and released to the media the first five words only, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” which allowed Reagan to take full credit for what is in fact Roger Waters’ role in the fall of the Berlin Wall.

As for the West Bank wall, Waters shrugged off any potential after-effects of a barrier between longtime enemies being removed just for a two-hour concert. “I live a long way from here,” concluded the legendary rocker.

The surviving members of Pink Floyd, guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour, and drummer Nick Mason, could not be reached for comment as they were in Mogadishu working a deal to convince Somali pirates to stop hijacking ships in return for autographed copies of Dark Side of the Moon and an LSD blotter with Syd Barrett’s fingerprint on it.

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