West Bank concert cancelled - reports

Leonard Cohen's proposed concert in Ramallah has been cancelled, according to various news sources in the last few days, most recently today's Guardian. "The Ramallah date was added allegedly in response to pro-Palestinian campaigners who had tried to dissuade Cohen from appearing in Israel," runs the report. "Now Cohen's Palestinian hosts have cancelled the West Bank concert, amid claims that the planned gig was a hollow attempt to 'balance' performances." PACBI's statement says "Ramallah will not receive Cohen as long as he is intent on whitewashing Israel's colonial apartheid regime by performing in Israel."

Here at LCBI we do feel this is a missed opportunity on Ramallah's part and hope they reconsider.

Both shows meanwhile are still unlisted on Cohen's official tour schedule, and the Cohen forum thread which has promised a "big announcement" about this for the past three weeks has been updated only to say that the announcement has been delayed, and won't appear in the first half of July.

In other news, our petition asking Leonard not to perform in Israel now has 83 signatures, and the Leonard Cohen Boycott Israel Facebook group has risen to 61 members.