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| The BBC's Jon Donnison says the protests have taken the Israeli government by surprise |
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Israelis have again taken to the streets in mass protests over the high cost of living.
At least
250,000 people joined the protests, with the main rallies in Tel Aviv,
Jerusalem and Haifa, although some Israeli media put the turnout as high as
400,000.
They are
the latest in a series of protests held throughout the summer.
Many
Israelis are angry at the high cost of housing, food, education and health
care.
Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has responded by forming a committee
to examine calls for reform, although he has warned he cannot meet all the
protesters' demands.
Economic
battlefield
The biggest
protest on Saturday, part of what organisers had dubbed a Million Man March,
appeared to be in Tel Aviv.
Student
union president Itzik Shmuli told the crowd: "They told us that the
movement was slowing down. Tonight we are showing that it's the opposite. We
are the new Israelis, determined to continue the fight for a fairer and better
society."
One banner
read: "An entire generation wants a future" and another "The
land of milk and honey, but not for everybody".
Jonathan Levy,
one of the protest organisers, told the BBC: "All the non-rich people in
Israel, no matter if they're secular or religious, old or young, realise that
we've abandoned some really important battlefields in this country, that is
economy, and we only dealt obsessively with security problems."
The BBC's
Jon Donnison, in Tel Aviv, says the Israeli government - with its eyes on the
impact of people-power elsewhere in the Middle East - has been taken a back by
the spontaneity and scale of the demonstrations.
He says
many other countries look enviously at Israel's growing economy but people here
feel the wealth has not been shared.
Many of the
protesters are from a middle class that has had to bear a hefty tax burden and
conscription into the services.
The
movement began in mid-July - when some Israelis angry at housing costs pitched
tents in a Tel Aviv neighbourhood - and has burgeoned.
Mr
Netanyahu has appointed a panel of experts to meet protest leaders and assess
their demands.
But some
demonstrators say this is an attempt to stall.
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