He wanted to show his support for the “two-state solution.” But the Palestinian Arabs only wanted him to appear if he supported a one-state solution, and the destruction of Israel.
Steven Plaut reports (thanks to Ruth King):
You no doubt recall that Leonard Cohen, the 1960s songwriter/poet, was planning to perform in Israel and “Palestine” (Ramallah) in order to show his support for two states for two peoples, and to earn himself some wampum now that his nest egg dissipated in the bear stock market. We bashed Lenny in these postings for his allowing himself to be co-opted by the terrorhoids.
Well, now it turns out that Lenny upset the Pestilinians because he refused to cancel his Israeli performance and to perform ONLY in “Palestine,” as they demanded, to show his opposition to the continued existence of Israel. The main Palestinian group that promotes boycotts of Israel and whose leader is now a PhD student in “ethics” at Tel Aviv University demanded that Lenny join their boycott. He refused, whether out of principle or cause he needs the shekels. So the Palestinian boycotters started threatening the Palestinians who were serving to host Lenny’s peace concert in Ramallah. Haaretz today reports that the Palestinian hosts have now dis-invited Cohen and the Ramallah concert is OFF!