Israel withdraws ban on Beatles

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 government at the time refused to grant the necessary permits over fears their music would corrupt Israeli youths.

The Israeli ambassador to London, Ron Prosor, is now set to apologise to the remaining two band members, 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 at The Beatles Story museum.

Prosor is also reported to be inviting McCartney and Starr to visit Israel this May as part of the country's 60th anniversary celebrations to mark its founding in May 1948.