Madonna turns her Tel Aviv show a ‘peace concert’

Zeenews Bureau

Tel Aviv: International pop artist Madonna treated thousands of fans in Israel to the inaugural show of her ‘MDNA’ world tour on Thursday. The sensational icon used the stage at Tel Aviv to promote peace in the Middle East. According to agencies, Madonna said, “I chose to start my world tour in Israel for a very specific and important reason.” During that show, she wrapped herself in an Israeli flag and called Israel the "energy centre of the world." She said, "As you know, the Middle East and all the conflict that occurs here and have been occurring for thousands of years, they have to stop.” “You can`t be a fan of mine and not want peace in the world”, she added. "So start today -- every single one of you, if there is peace here in the Middle East, there can be peace in the whole world”, Madonna said. The Tel Aviv show, in support of the MDNA album, launched the 53-year-old Queen of Pop`s ninth world tour and her first since her ‘Sticky and Sweet’ outing in 2008-2009. Before the performance, a day ahead, the diminutive diva briefly met with members of the Palestinian-Israeli Peace NGO Forum and handed them 600 tickets. "We spoke to her for a few minutes and we asked if she would say anything about peace," Yariv Oppenheimer of Peace Now, a member of the forum, told the media, adding that it was the Alliance`s first-ever contact with the petite singer, who has largely steered clear of getting involved with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "She told us: `I will say much more than a word about it.” In Thursday`s show, she paid tribute to groups seeking to help end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "There are some very important NGOs which are representing both Palestine and Israel over here," she told the audience. "It`s easy to say: `I want peace in the world,` but it`s another thing to do it. If we can all rise above our egos and our titles and the names of our countries and our religions - and treat everyone around us with dignity and respect, then we are on the road to peace," she said. “No conflict can ever be resolved by causing pain to another human being”, she concluded.