Progressive rock musician and Pink Floyd’s main songwriter and former vocalist Roger Waters has recently announced that he will be moving his originally planned Tel Aviv show to a more neutral ground, in Neve Shalom/Wahat at Salam located halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

“The suffering endured by the Palestinian people during the Israeli occupation of the last 40 years is unimaginable to us living in the west and I support them in their struggle to be free. I have moved the concert to Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salam as a gesture of solidarity with those voices of reason, both Palestinian and Israeli, that seek a nonviolent route to a just peace”, Water said through a released press statement.

The “voices of reason” Waters referred to were the Palestinian musicians and supporters and Israeli “refuseniks” or those who object or protest in serving the Israeli Armed Forces who both sent numerous appeals to either relocate the concert venue, cancel the show altogether or directly dedicate the show in support of the Palestinians’ fight for freedom from Israeli occupation and oppression and to use the show as a medium of appeal to the Israeli army to bring down the Israeli West Bank Barrier which both Waters and the International Court of Justice condemned to be against international law and has stirred further political controversy and unrest.

Waters, who have made a musical career conveying messages of anti-oppression, anti-war and peaceful coexistence despite cultural, religious and political differences, heeded the pleas of the concerned groups by moving the concert to Neve Shalom.

Neve Shalom is Hebrew for “oasis of peace”.  It is a village founded through the mutual efforts of both Arab Israelis and Jews.  The village is living proof that Palestinians and Jews, Christians and Muslims can coexist peacefully and equally, something that Waters has always fought for through his songs and performances.