Palestine Monitor
18 May 2010

Veteran rock musician Elvis Costello has pulled out of two scheduled concerts inside Israel. The British five-time Grammy award winning singer and guitarist cited the “intimidation and humiliation of Palestinian civilians” in an open letter explaining his decision.

Costello”s public snub represents another major coup for the global BDS (Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions) campaign and PACBI-the department dedicated to an academic and cultural boycott of apartheid Israel. Costello follows in the footsteps of such high profile performers as Santana and Gil Scott Heron, who also pulled out of tour dates in Israel recently.

It is believed the combined pressure from various branches of the international BDS movement played a major part in Costello”s decision, who as recently as two weeks ago was re-iterating his desire to go ahead with the concerts in Ceasarea, Haifa. In a letter on the musician”s official website he expressed concern that performing in Israel would constitute a “political act” that might insult those who “deplore conditions that visit intimidation, humiliation or much worse on Palestinian civilians in the name of national security.”

The cultural boycott movement will now focus its attention on the upcoming visits of Elton John and Ozzy Osbourne to Israel.

Learn more about the global BDS movement here http://www.bdsmovement.net/