AMMAN, Aug 24 (AFP) - A grandson of the Mahatma Gandhi, Arun Gandhi, will observe a one-day fast in solidarity with Palestinians jailed in Israel during a visit to the Israeli-occupied territories, he announced here Tuesday.
"In solidarity with the Palestinian political prisoners ... I announce I will be fasting on Friday, August the 27th," Gandhi said.
"I ask the Arab world, Muslims and Christians, and I also ask the Muslim world and all peace-loving people to join us in a day of fast," he added in a statement read on his behalf as he wrapped up a visit to Jordan and headed for the West Bank.
Aides said Gandhi would hold the fast during a visit to Ramallah on Friday where he is set to meet Palestinian president Yasser Arafat.
Thousands of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails have been on a hunger strike now in its second week demanding better conditions.
Before leaving, Gandhi urged the Palestinians to emulate his grandfather and refrain from violence to win their rights from Israel.
"I am calling for popular resistance, but popular resistance non-violently, not with arms," he told a press conference in Amman.
"When we respond to the oppressor the way the oppressor has done with the use of violence, then we lose our moral strength to seek a solution to the problem and become like the oppressor," he added.
He criticised the Palestinian trademark of attacking Israeli forces with stones as "being violent" and urged them instead of organising "boycotts, peaceful demonstrations ... to arouse the conscious of the world" and solve their problem".
Gandhi also criticised the controversial barrier Israel is building in the West Bank, describing it as "particulary evil because it is designed in a way to strangulate a whole nation."
He urged the international community to press Israel into heeding a non-binding ruling issued in July by the International Court of Justice which said the barrier should be torn down where it cuts into Palestinian territory.