June 29, 2006
Pink Floyd’s Waters Caught Red-Handed
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Roger Waters, British rock legend and co founder of the group Pink Floyd, paints graffiti at Israel's separation barrier surrounding the West Bank town of Bethlehem. Photo by Magnus Johansson/AFP
"No thought control."
The famed lyrics from rock band Pink Floyd's much beloved "Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2" make for a powerful statement regardless of context. Scrawled last week in red paint on a concrete segment of Israel's security fence in the Palestinian town of Bethlehem by Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters himself, though, the poignancy of the verse is undeniable.
Waters visited Israel to play a concert June 22 at Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam (literally Oasis of Peace), a cooperative Jewish-Palestinian Arab village between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Originally scheduled to perform at the much more mainstream Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv, Rogers moved the concert to the fields of Neve Shalom in response to pressure from pro-Palestinian musicians.
"I moved the concert to Neve Shalom as a gesture of solidarity with the voices of reason -- Israelis and Palestinians seeking a non-violent path to a just peace between the peoples," Waters said in a press release.
According to the Jerusalem Post, the concert in its makeshift venue drew more than 50,000 attendees and became the cause of one of Israel's worst traffic jams to date. Waters performed the album "Dark Side of the Moon" in its entirety, along with many of Pink Floyd's greatest hits, including "Shine on You Crazy Diamond," "Wish You Were Here" and the especially iconic "Another Brick in the Wall."
"We need this generation of Israelis to tear down walls and make peace," Waters told the audience before his post-midnight encore.
Waters' performance received much acclaim in Israel, but it is his spray-painting stint at the security fence in the West Bank the day before the showcase that is making lasting waves there and abroad. The artist's paint and pen additions to the already graffiti-laden wall marked Waters' first stop after arriving in Israel. According to reporters present at the Palestinian town of Bethlehem when he made the markings, Waters likened the barrier to the Berlin Wall, adding that "it may be a lot harder to get this one down, but eventually it has to happen, otherwise there's no point to being human beings."
The musician's deliberately provocative gesture prompted right-wing activists Baruch Marzel and Itamar Ben-Gvir to call for the artist's detainment.
The pair submitted an accusation to the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court June 23 alleging that Waters destroyed Israel Defense Forces property, according to Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Israeli authorities have not yet issued a response to the singer's graffiti or to Marzel and Ben-Gvir's retaliatory petition.
The fence that Waters dubbed "a horrible edifice" is being constructed in the hopes of preventing Palestinian suicide bombers and other attackers, who have killed and wounded hundreds of Israelis in the last six years, from entering Israel proper.
Additional information courtesy Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Jerusalem Post and Ha'aretz.
