A Gandhi preaches peace in Mideast

For decades since he founded the Fatah movement in 1959, Arafat championed "armed struggle" against Israel. Aircraft hijackings and the slayings of civilians were carried out in favor of his cause.

Entering talks with Israel in 1993, he publicly espoused the search for a peaceful solution. But Israel says that to this day he tacitly encourages Palestinian attacks on Israelis by turning a blind eye to the activities of militant groups.

Gandhi, who spent his childhood in South Africa, was 12 years old when he went to live with his grandfather in India. In 1991, he and his wife founded the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence at the Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tenn. In 1995 he became a US citizen.

It was his grandfather's practice of passive resistance that brought down British colonial rule in India. Mohandas Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic in New Delhi in 1948, soon after his country's independence.

Arun Gandhi arrived in Jerusalem on Tuesday for a weeklong visit to the West Bank and Israel. He has proposed nonviolent options to end almost four years of bitter fighting.

Palestinians blame Israeli occupation and military operations for the violence, which has included more than 100 Palestinian suicide attacks, killing hundreds. Since violence erupted in September 2000, 3,066 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and 970 on the Israeli side, authorities say.

During his stay Gandhi is to take part in a joint Palestinian-Israeli peace rally, inspect the barrier Israel is building around the West Bank, and attend a vigil in Bethlehem with Christian, Muslim, and Jewish religious leaders.