by Amira Hass

The grandson of former Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, Arun Gandhi, is to

kick off a Palestinian campaign for an unarmed, popular struggle against

the Israeli occupation.

The campaign is being organized by a group of Palestinian social and

political activists in Ramallah that was formed after a ruling of the

International Court of Justice in The Hague against the separation fence

and Israel's occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The group's

members are anti-fence activists, members of non-government organizations

for water and agriculture development, and central Fatah activists, headed

by minister without portfolio and Fatah activist Kadura Fares.

Gandhi, head of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Non-violence in the United

States, will be the star speaker in three mass rallies planned in Ramallah,

Abu Dis and Bethlehem on August 26. Gandhi said he intends "to promote the

philosophy of non-violence, the approach that non-violence is the only

venue that can solve our problems."