Tel Aviv, Israel - 27 February 2017

1. Various of Israeli singer Aviv Geffen (left) and Iranian singer Shahin Najafi performing 'The Hope Song' in Hebrew and Farsi

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Aviv Geffen, Israeli singer:

"We can talk, we can hug and touch each other and sing, it's okay you know. So for us it's a great message to the people around the world, if it's let's say (Roger) Waters with the BDS supporting or to the people or to Bibi Netanyahu and Trump with his ridiculous vision. People can talk, people can make music together and it's all fine. We got no problem at all."

3. Cutaway USB stick with Peace sign attached to it

4. SOUNDBITE (Farsi) Shahin Najafi, Iranian singer

"Naturally I have a very good feeling about it. I am very happy that I have this opportunity to come to Israel in the name of art and beside Aviv. We are going to sing together for democracy, freedom and against war."

5. Geffen and Najafi performing 'Good Morning Iran'

6. Pull out of drummer

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Aviv Geffen, Israeli singer

"I think Shahin is one of the bravest artists I ever met who is fighting on his own ideas and he's got loads, loads of people from Iran who are supporting him and some of his fans were thrown into jail because of his ideas and vision. So for me it was like a miracle to bring him here to Tel Aviv, to Israel just now, you know, because of all the history between us and Iran. To show the people that the people in Iran and Tel Aviv and Israel are getting together along really, really well."

8. Geffen and Najafi performing 'Good Morning Iran'

9. SOUNDBITE (Farsi) Shahin Najafi, Iranian singer

"I think that life is dangerous and my situation is such that I believe in what I do and I am fighting for what I believe in, in general. For democracy, for freedom and for peace and I'm ready to die for it. I am very happy that there is this opportunity for two artists to come together and work together and bring the message of friendship to both the people of Iran and Israel."

10. Close of tattoo on hand of Najafi

11. Aviv Geffen singing 'The Hope Song'

12. Aviv Geffen and Shahin Najafi performing 'The Hope Song' and hugging at the end

Aviv Geffen breaks into the opening lyrics of 'The Hope Song', one of the signature hits he wrote after the the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.

It became something of a peace anthem and has been referred to as the Israeli version of John Lennon's 'Imagine'.

However the call for peace and hope is taken to a new level as the artist to his left joins the song.

Shahin Najafi meshes its Hebrew lyrics with Farsi - the language of Israel's long term enemy Iran.

Najafi is an Iranian dissident musician who had to flee the Islamic Republic because of his activism and was later issued a death sentence for a song about a Shiite cleric that was deemed to be blasphemous.

Now based in Germany, he still has a strong following among those opposed to the regime in Iran.

He's rehearsing with Geffen for a concert later this week in Tel Aviv - believed to be the first joint Israeli-Iranian collaboration.

The two artists hope to prove that despite the bitter enmity between their countries, the people could unite in the name of a better future.

"We can talk, we can hug and touch each other and sing, it's okay you know. So for us it's a great message to the people around the world", says Geffen.

"Naturally I have a very good feeling about it", adds Najafi. "I am very happy that I have this opportunity to come to Israel in the name of art and besides Aviv. We are going to sing together for democracy, freedom and against war."

In its early years, Israel actually had close ties to Iran and the country featured a thriving Jewish community. But following the Islamic revolution in 1979 they quickly devolved into bitter enemies, with the new Iranian leadership often referring to Israel as the "little Satan" and threatening to annihilate it.

In recent years, Israel has regarded Iran as its most dangerous adversary because of its nuclear program, its development of long-range missiles and continued support for militant groups along its border. Meeting with Israelis, let alone visiting the country, is considered an offence that could have severe repercussions.

In Israel, Geffen is cloaked in a rebellious image that earned him a title as the voice of a younger generation in the early 1990s when he would appear on stage in makeup, often without a shirt, and challenge his fans by screaming "do you want a change?"

His songs dealt with charged issues like suicide, religion, drugs and military service, which is compulsory in Israel but he himself skipped.

He performed at a peace rally in 1995 shortly before Rabin was assassinated by a religious extremist Jew opposed to his peace efforts, and Geffen's songs came to symbolise that era.

In recent years, he has been a vocal critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he has called a 'tyrant' who needs to step down.

But Geffen acknowledged that his political activism paled in comparison to Najafi's ordeal.

"I think Shahin is one of the bravest artists I ever met who is fighting on his own ideas and he's got loads, loads of people from Iran who are supporting him and some of his fans were thrown into jail because of his ideas and vision. So for me it was like a miracle to bring him here to Tel Aviv, to Israel just now, you know, because of all the history between us and Iran. To show the people that the people in Iran and Tel Aviv and Israel are getting together along really, really well", he says.

Born in Bandar-e Anzali, in the Gilan province in northern Iran, Najafi made a name for himself as an underground musician who took on controversial issues such as sexuality, politics and God. Under threat of persecution, he fled in 2004.

The "fatwa" death sentence against him was issued after his most controversial song, Naghi, in which he exhorts a Shiite Imam to solve some of the problems plaguing Iran.

The religious edict still stands, as does a 100,000 US dollar bounty on his head. He's often described as "the Salman Rushdie of music".

"I think that life is dangerous and my situation is such that I believe in what I do and I am fighting for what I believe in in general. For democracy, for freedom and for peace and I'm ready to die for it. I am very happy that there is this opportunity for two artists to come together and work together and bring the message of friendship to both the people of Iran and Israel."

Najafi, who learned to sing the chorus of 'The Hope Song' in Hebrew, worked off a translation of the lyrics to create the Farsi segments of the collaborative version.

The duo will also perform 'Good Morning Iran', a song Geffen wrote about Israeli politics.