Boney M rocks West Bank city

1970s band Boney M had Israeli and Arab fans dancing together in Ramallah, in the West Bank, on Tuesday night as they took part in an open-air festival.

The band, best known for its disco hits, drew a crowd that included many Israeli citizens who travelled into the Palestinian Territories to catch their act in defiance of an official ban.

But the set did not include their hit Rivers of Babylon, possibly because the chorus includes the line: "Yeah, we wept, when we remembered Zion."

Organizers asked Boney M to skip the song, and the band complied.

Instead, the group, which formed in Germany but whose members are Jamaican, stuck to works with no political or biblical references, among them Daddy Cool, Belfast, Ma Baker and Rasputin, a big hit with the crowd.

Maizie Williams, a founding member of the band, was met with thunderous applause when she shouted: "We love Palestine. We love you all, people of Palestine."

Boney M broke up 15 years ago, but Williams has the right to tour under the name. Her lineup includes a revolving group of musicians.

The group was invited as part of the 12th annual Palestine International Festival of Dance and Music, which schedules performances in five West Bank cities as well as in the Israeli port of Haifa.

The lineup includes French-Algerian Rai singer Faudel, performances by the Ballet Espanol de Murcia, Jordanian composer Tareq al-Nasser and many local music and dance groups.