Support for Palestine is just - Tutu

Johannesburg - The pursuit of justice for the people of Palestine is a righteous cause that the people of Israel should support, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu said on Friday.

"Recent weeks had witnessed unprecedented action by members of civil society across the world against the injustice of Israel's disproportionately brutal response to the firing of missiles from Palestine," he said in a statement.

"The turnout at demonstrations across the world last Saturday was arguably the largest active outcry by citizens around a single cause ever in the history of the world."

Tutu appealed directly to the people of Israel in an article published by the Israeli news organisation, Haaretz.

Tens of thousands of people supporting Palestine marched to Parliament in Cape Town on Saturday in one of the biggest rallies the city has seen in 20 years.

Tutu said his plea to the people of Israel was to see beyond the moment of anger and to see a world in which Israel and Palestine could co-exist.

"The State of Israel is behaving as if there is no tomorrow.

"Its people will not live the peaceful and secure lives they crave - and are entitled to - as long as their leaders perpetuate conditions that sustain the conflict."

According to AFP, 1 962 Palestinians and 67 people on the Israeli side have died in attacks since 8 July.