TEL AVIV, Israel -- Michael Jackson, the Peter Pan pop star hounded across the globe by charges he molested his pre-pubescent buddies at home in California, landed Friday in Israel and was welcomed by children who handed him apple slices dipped in honey.
It was a traditional greeting for the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana, which was being celebrated for the second day as Jackson landed from Moscow in his private jet at Ben Gurion International Airport. The singing star's arrival for two concerts and a week of sightseeing was postponed a day because of poor weather in Russia.
Dressed in a favored black suit, Jackson took the snack and waved, butsaid nothing as he was whisked from the airport in a private limousine in the early afternoon. Later he toured downtown Tel Aviv, where most of the shops were closed because of the holiday, and the nearby seaport of Jaffa.
The pop idol was later shuttled to the beachside Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv with about half of his 220-person entourage. A strict vegetarian who fasts once week, Jackson brought his own cook to the hotel, an entire floor of which was reserved for him.
Jackson has been the target of a media blitz since a 13-year-old Los Angeles boy said he was sexually molested at Jackson's California ranch. Jackson denied the charges, but since then, two other youths have said the 35-year-old singer used to invite them over for slumber parties.
Israeli organizers of the two concerts he'll give in Tel Aviv were scrambling to find the right mix of children to comprise the chorus of local kids that join him on the stage in every city he plays to sing his latest hit 'Heal the World.'
'We're hoping to get Israeli and Palestinian children to do it,' said Rachel Goldblatt, one of his promoters.
'He's coming at a very special time,' she said, in light of Jackson's visit just days after a historic peace agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Jackson showed empathy for the victims of the Arab-Israeli conflict and other wars in his 'Heal the World' music video. In it, Palestinian children wrapped in their trade-mark black and white keffiyehs run past armed Israeli soldiers, then join in a multi-racial candelight gathering of children singing to make the world 'a better place.'
After the one-day delay, managers of his visit breathed a sigh of relief, mindful of all the concerts Jackson cancelled along his tour route because of dehydration, headaches and other maladies.
His September 19 and 23 shows in Hayarkon Park, which can hold 40,000 concert-goers, are nearly sold out.
Besides the embarassment and financial loss, backers like Pepsi and Yedioth Aharonot, Israel's largest daily paper, would suffer after months of hype about Jackson's visit, no one wanted to see another superstar let the Israeli public down.
It hasn't been easy to get top acts to perform in Israel, especially during the last six years of violence stemming from the Palestinian intifada, or uprising. Whitney Houston recently cancelled a stop here due to pregnancy, and Elton John skipped a concert and fled the country this June when a pack of photographers rushed him. He was persuaded to come back.
Jackson, however, has come to do more than perform, and his promoters say he is 'very excited' about being here.
Raised as a Jehovah's Witness, Jackson had never been to Israel before and planned to spend almost a full week touring the country, including religious sites in Jerusalem and Nazareth, as well as Bethlehem and Jericho in the occupied West Bank.
