This is not political, Daniel Barenboim says, admitting that he knows few will agree when they learn about his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. How can a project that requires Israelis and Arabs to play together on the same stage not be political?

“Our project, our idea, is a humanistic idea,” says Barenboim in advance of the orchestra’s Boston debut. “There is hardly any other area in which Israelis and Palestinians are willing to work together and have a passion for the same thing.”