SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY - ISRAEL WITHDRAWS BEATLES BAN

SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY and RINGO STARR have been invited back to Israel - 43 years after the BEATLES were banned from the country. The Fab Four were due to play a gig in the Middle Eastern nation in 1965, but were banished from the country after the then-government refused to grant the necessary permits over fears their music would corrupt Israeli youths. But the Israeli ambassador to London, Ron Prosor, is now set to apologise to the remaining two bandmembers, as well as the relatives of the late John Lennon and George Harrison, to express the country's "great regret", according to Israeli newspaper the Yediot Ahronot. Prosor is currently in the rockers' native Liverpool, England, where he is due to present an official letter of apology to Lennon's sister Julia Baird on Monday (28Jan08) at The Beatles Story museum. Prosor is also reported to be inviting MCCartney and Starr to visit Israel in May (08) as part of the country's 60th anniversary celebrations to mark its founding in May 1948.