Tel Aviv/Bethlehem  - Paul McCartney called for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Wednesday, as he toured Bethlehem a day before his historic "Friendship First" concert in Tel Aviv.

McCartney, who landed in Israel overnight, used the afternoon to visit the Church of the Nativity - built on the site where according to Christian tradition Jesus was born - in the West Bank city just south of Jerusalem.

Rejecting criticism by pro-Palestinian groups in Britain over his decision to perform in Israel, he said: "I get criticized everywhere I go. But I don't listen to them."

"I think it's best to come and find out for yourself, and as I say I'm bringing a message of peace and I think that's what's the region needs," he told reporters as he emerged from the ancient church.

"You know, in my own small way I can bring that message from here to highlight the situation and to say that I think what we need is peace in the region - the two state solution."

His performance Thursday night before 40,000 Israelis in Tel Aviv's HaYarkon Park is the first ever by an ex-Beatle in Israel and comes 43 years after the Israeli government banned the group from appearing in the country.

A government committee at the time notoriously ruled the band had "no artistic merit" and its performances were causing "hysteria and mass disorder among young people."

The 66-year-old rock idol is staying in the presidential suite of Tel Aviv's Dan Hotel, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, used in the past also by such VIPs as former US president Bill Clinton, Madonna, Michael Jackson and Phil Collins.

According to Israeli media reports, he has his own butler at his disposal 24 hours a day, and has had a baby grand piano placed especially in his room.

As well as his own bodyguards, he has hired the services of an Israeli company to provide additional security.

A Syrian radical Islamic cleric had reportedly even verbally threatened McCartney, if he went ahead with his visit to Israel.

The McCartney concert, which has sparked widespread Beatles mania in Israel, comes after the Israeli ambassador to Britain, Ron Prosor, earlier this year issued a formal apology to the surviving Beatles and their families for the 1965 fiasco.

"There is no doubt that it was a great missed opportunity to prevent people like you, who shaped the minds of the generation, to come to Israel and perform," Prosor wrote in a letter sent to the group's surviving members.

Commenting on the incident, McCartney, who is on his first visit to Israel, said on his official website that "We thought it was quite amusing really, being banned."

"It's kind of cute that they are apologizing, it's very courteous but you know I wasn't really offended in the first place," he added.

McCartney is scheduled to leave Israel Friday. The concert in Tel Aviv is part of a series of one-off shows, which earlier this year saw him visit Kiev and Quebec. (dpa)