Tel Aviv - It's taken over 40 years but Beatlemania has finally hit Israel.

Paul McCartney is to give a concert in Tel Aviv Thursday, but what is only a day in the life of a rock icon is regarded in Israel as one of the biggest cultural events in the country's history.

In advance of the concert, McCartney has been given unprecedented coverage in the media for a musician, with interviews appearing in newspapers and on television, and radio stations playing his songs almost non-stop.

Even Israel Radio's daily "Golden Oldies" hour, with oldies at best usually only gold-plated, has gotten in on the act, playing only Beatles and McCartney songs.

Less in tribute than because they know the futility of trying to attract an audience when McCartney is playing just down the road, most of Tel Aviv's clubs will be closed on Thursday night, or not hosting live shows.

The concert has sparked fears of one of Israel's biggest-ever traffic jams, prompting police to urge people to arrive at the concert by public transportation, and the Jerusalem Post to inform its readers: "Baby, you can't drive your car."

News that McCartney intended playing in Tel Aviv did not pass without controversy, with pro-Palestinian groups calling for him to boycott Israel. Radical Islamic preacher Omar Bakri was even quoted as saying that "if he values his life, Mr McCartney will not come to Israel."

But McCartney brushed off the threats, telling the Jerusalem Post laconically, "You have to realise that any high profile event brings with it some worries."

"My mission," he said, "is humanitarian, and concerns all people, not just a few."

"I'm always interested in visiting places I've never been to before, just as a tourist," McCartney told the Israeli daily. "The offer of a gig (in Israel) came up ... I'd like to go there and see what's what."

McCartney could have done so 43 years ago, but the Israeli government refused him and the other three members of the band the opportunity.

A proposed Beatles concert in the Jewish state in 1965 never took place, in part due to a dispute between the concert promoters, and in part because the Israeli government of the day would not allow them in.

In an example of poor judgement which ranks with Decca Records refusing to offer the Beatles a recording contract because "groups with guitars are on their way out," the Israeli government ruled that the four musicians who would become the world's most famous and most influential rock group "had no artistic merit."

The government also justified its decision by noting that their performances "caused hysteria and mass disorder among young people."

"We thought it was quite amusing really, being banned", McCartney said. "We took it as fun, it didn't really worry us, we just went off and played somewhere else. Our manager, Brian Epstein, who was Jewish, was, I think, more insulted than we were."

In January this year, Israel finally admitted "I should have known better" and ambassador to Britain Ron Prosser delivered formal apology for the cancellation of the 1960s concert.

The company selling tickets for the event refused to tell Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa how many have been sold. Media reports however said the concert in Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park will be attended by over 35,000 people - more than the number who voted in last week's elections to choose a new head of the ruling Kadima party, but fewer than hoped for.

Tickets range from around 140 dollars each, to 440 dollars for special seats, to 1,400 dollars for the VIP enclosure.

Most Beatles fans were not deterred by the price, while others, for whom the Beatles are merely another ex-rock group, are not as enthusiastic.

"I'm not paying all that money to see an aging ex-Beatle," one Tel Aviv resident, not yet 40, sniffed disdainfully.

Jerusalem Post correspondent David Brinn estimated that the concert will be attended by people over 45 years of age, for whom the group provided the soundtrack to their lives, and by people under 25, whose parents exposed them to Beatles music at an early age and "either these kids got it, or they became Metallica fans."

Sometimes, however the forced exposure worked only too well.

"I'm not attending the concert," the 24-year-old daughter of an avowed Beatles fan told dpa, "unless he brings the other three with him." (dpa)