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Pianist Barenboim awarded honorary Palestinian citizenship

Society Materials 13 January 2008 05:49 (UTC +04:00)

( dpa ) - Argentine-Israeli conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim has been given honorary Palestinian citizenship after giving a concert in the West Bank Saturday.

Barenboim was awarded the honour for his intervention on behalf of the Palestinian people and for peace in the Middle East, Palestinian parliamentarian and former presidential candidate Mustafa Barghouti told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Barenboim was probably the only person in the world with an Israeli and Palestinian passport, Barghouti said.

The star conductor said he had accepted and was very grateful for the honour, because he was convinced that the futures of the Israeli and Palestinian people were inextricably tied to one another.

Barenboim played sonatas from Beethoven before a gathering of about 600 people in a Ramallah auditorium. Entrance was free, but audience members were urged to donate money towards medical care for children in the Gaza Strip.

In 1999, Barenboim co-founded the West-Eastern Divan orchestra with the late Palestinian Edward Said, whose wife Mariam was in Saturday's audience. Among the 90 musicians in the orchestra were a mix of European, Israeli and Arab musicians.

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