Palestinians strike to protest rising prices

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinians shuttered shops and blocked roads with burning tires across the West Bank to protest their government's failure to contain rising prices and pay salaries.

Monday's protests were the largest show of popular discontent with the governing Palestinian Authority in its 18-year history.

They followed a series of small but growing strikes over the past few weeks.

Palestinians say their salaries can't keep up with the rising price of living and blame Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. But Fayyad's government is grappling with a sharp budgetary shortfall because the U.S. and Arab countries that sustain it haven't delivered promised aid money.

Palestinian officials have allowed the protests to continue, rather than violently suppressing them as they have in the past, saying the unrest reflects popular anger with foreign donors.