1000s protest living conditions in Israel

Israelis march in Tel Aviv to protest against rising housing prices and social inequalities in Israel, July 23, 2011.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/190490.html

Tens of thousands of Israelis have staged a demonstration in Tel Aviv to protest the hiking housing prices and social inequalities in Israel.

In the largest anti-regime demonstration in years, thousands from all walks of life gathered in central Tel Aviv late Saturday for a rally against soaring living costs in the occupied lands, AFP reported.

The protesters also called for holding a similar demonstration in front of the Israeli parliament (Knesset) on Sunday and Monday.

“We want social justice, not charity” and “The people want social justice,” the protesters chanted during the rally.

Some of the marchers called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign. Over a dozen people were arrested following the Saturday clashes between police and protesters.

The new wave of protests and strikes hit Israel since two weeks ago when statistics centers announced a 32-percent hike in housing prices during a one-year period in Israel.

Last week, Israeli medical interns also staged a hunger strike at a hospital and left their workplace at other hospitals to protest their working conditions.

The hunger strike forced Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba -- Israel's seventh-largest hospital complex -- to shut down its emergency department.

Israeli doctors and medical staff in other hospitals resorted to complaining of “fatigue” to avoid working and protest their working conditions after a labor court banned them on Wednesday from going on strike.

The Israeli physicians have been protesting their unfavorable working circumstances and low pay for months.

Israel is facing shortage of funds in its social and labor sectors as the cabinet of Netanyahu allocated huge military budgets to intensify the regime's deadly attacks on Palestinians.