DHAKA: South Africa’s ex-president Thabo Mbeki has called for a boycott of Israeli goods to show solidarity with Palestinians.

The public should mobilise against Israel so that it ‘does pay a price for the position that it is taking’, Mbeki said in the capital, Pretoria, reports the BBC.

About 2,000 people, mostly Palestinians, have died in the conflict in Gaza since July.

Most South Africans have historically supported the Palestinians.

BBC South Africa analyst Farouk Chothia says they include the country’s first black president, the late Nelson Mandela, Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu and prominent Jewish leaders such as Ronnie Kasrils and the late Joe Slovo.

They drew parallels between the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa and the Palestinian campaign for independence, he says.

However, South Africa has a vocal minority which supports Israel and believe that it is unfairly maligned.

Meanwhile, a row has broken out after the Jewish deputy head boy of Johannesburg’s King David Victory Park School, Joshua Broomberg, appeared in a photo posted on Facebook wearing a Palestinian scarf.

BDST: 2029 HRS, AUG 12, 2014