Sir Paul McCartney will perform in Israel for the first time later this year, it's been reported.

McCartney was banned from the country over forty years ago along with the rest of the Beatles but is said to be close to signing an agreement to play there.

According to the Sun newspaper, McCartney will perform to 250,000 people in Tel Aviv in September.

“Paul is desperate to put Israel on the map of places he’s performed,” a source close to the star told the newspaper.

Israel banned The Beatles in 1965 fearing their music might corrupt the country's younger citizens.

Earlier this year, however, the country invited the band's surviving members to celebrate its 60th anniversary.

(by Jason Gregory)