Israelis protest over cost of living (1:52)

Aug.7 - A quarter of a million Israelis demonstrate to demand lower living costs. Paul Chapman reports.

Quarter-million Israelis march for economic reform

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By Ari Rabinovitch

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - A quarter-million Israelis marched Saturday for lower living costs in an escalating protest that has catapulted the economy onto the political agenda and put pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu planned to name a cabinet-level team Sunday to address demands by the demonstrators, who in under a month have swollen from a cluster of student tent-squatters into a diffuse, countrywide mobilisation of Israel's burdened middle class.

Israel projects growth of 4.8 percent this year at a time of economic stagnation in many Western countries, and has relatively low unemployment of 5.7 percent. But business cartels and wage disparities have kept many citizens from feeling the benefit.

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