The New York Times-20080129-Israel Seeks Harmony With the Beatles- -Brief-

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Israel Seeks Harmony With the Beatles; [Brief]

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Israel wants to kiss and make up with the Beatles, above. Forty-three years after canceling the group's concert date in Israel, the country plans to deliver letters of apology to the two surviving members and to relatives of the dead Beatles, an official in Israel's embassy in London told Agence France-Presse. In addition the survivors, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, were expected to be invited to perform in May at Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations. The Hebrew-language Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot reported that the letter of apology said: We would like to take this opportunity to rectify a historic missed opportunity which unfortunately took place in 1965 when you were invited to Israel. Unfortunately the state of Israel canceled your performance in the country due to lack of budget and because several politicians in the Knesset had believed at the time that your performance might corrupt the minds of Israeli youth.

[Illustration]PHOTO (PHOTOGRAPH BY ASSOCIATED PRESS, 1964)