RAMALLAH, Aug 29: The grandson of Mahatma Gandhi urged Palestinian refugees on Sunday to march home from Jordan en masse, even if the Israelis "kill 200 people", to shock the world into taking notice.

Arun Gandhi, whose pacifist grandfather helped end British control over the Indian subcontinent, proposed to the Palestinian parliament a peaceful march of 50,000 refugees across the Jordan River and said lawmakers should lead the way.

"What would happen? Maybe the Israeli army would shoot and kill several. They may kill 100. They may kill 200 men, women and children. And that would shock the world. The world will get up and say, 'What is going on?'" he said.

"That is the kind of electrifying action that needs to be taken," he said in the West Bank city of Ramallah. A popular Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation which began in 2000 has been overshadowed by violence by militants, some sworn to Israel's destruction, who have killed more than 900 Israelis in suicide bomb and shooting attacks.

Human rights groups say at least 3,000 Palestinians have also been killed over the past four years. Gandhi, on a solidarity trip to territory where Palestinians are seeking statehood, said his idea could be "crazy".

He compared Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza to the treatment of blacks under South Africa's former white-minority regime, saying what was happening to Palestinians was "10 times worse".

At least 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes during the 1948 war that led to Israel's creation. -Reuters