Thousands of Palestinians have taken to the streets, with some burning tyres, stoning buildings and clashing with security forces

The Palestinian prime minister has been forced to declare an emergency economic package after more than a week of escalating protests over rising prices in West Bank cities. Thousands of Palestinians have taken to the streets, some burning tyres, stoning buildings and clashing with security forces.

Among the measures announced by Salam Fayyad, who has been the main target of protesters' anger‚ were cancellation of recent price rises in fuel and cooking gas, a cut in VAT, a promise to pay half of the salaries due to public employees by Wednesday, and "progressive deductions" from the salaries of senior officials including ministers.

The head of the Palestinian public transport union rejected the package. "These decisions are unsatisfactory, and we will continue in our protests," Jawad Omran told Reuters.

Fayyad called upon donor countries, particularly Arab states, to increase aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA). It was unclear whether the measures would prove sufficient to quell the protests.

Hundreds of protesters took part in a peaceful demonstration in Ramallah on Tuesday evening after the announcement of the emergency package. On Monday, several thousand protesters threw stones and rocks at a police station and municipal offices in the volatile city of Hebron. Dozens of police officers and protesters were injured in clashes, during which tear gas was fired.

Protests have hit Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jenin, Nablus, Tulkarem and Jericho, with roads blocked by burning tyres and rubbish bins. Strikes by taxi and bus drivers have paralysed the West Bank's transport system. Many schools and universities have also been shut.

The immediate cause of the protests is anger over the rising cost of living. Petrol prices went up by 5%, to more than $2 a litre, after similar rises in Israel, which supplies fuel to the West Bank. The cost of basic foods is also up.

Taxi drivers in Ramallah said the price cut announced by Fayyad, which would take the cost of fuel back to its August level, was not enough to stop strikes planned for coming days.

Fayyad announced that the PA would pay its 153,000 employees half their August salaries immediately and would strive to pay the outstanding amounts within a week. The PA has been unable to pay full salaries since June because of shortfalls in aid donations. According to the World Bank, unemployment in the West Bank and Gaza is more than 20%, but the figure rises to almost 35% among young people.

Initially the protests were welcomed by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, who described them as the "Palestinian spring". Fayyad, an independent politician, is disliked by both main political factions, Fatah and Hamas, and is frequently accused of being too compliant with Israel and the West. Calls for his resignation have been widespread during recent days. However, some protesters have also called for Abbas to go and attacked PA corruption in general, indicating the potential for the protests to spin beyond the control of the dominant faction, Fatah.

Some protesters have demanded the scrapping of a 1994 economic agreement signed between Israel and the Palestinians, known as the Paris protocol. It gave Israel control over the Palestinians' external trade and collection of customs duties on behalf of the PA, and pegged VAT and prices in the Palestinian territories to Israeli rates. Critics say it has led to prices in the West Bank being similar to those in Israel, while wages are around a third.

Palestinian economist Sam Bahour said blame for the current economic crisis in the West Bank belonged to "the Paris Protocol and Israel's occupation. The issue is the framework of occupation that is causing economic hardship, not a tax increase here or a tax increase there."

One senior Palestinian official predicted that protesters' anger would be turned against Israel's occupation of the West Bank. "People on the streets are suffering from a lack of income, high prices and restrictions on movement," said Nabil Shaath. "This is a war against our total loss of political horizon. People are going back to struggle, non-violent struggle, and will eventually turn against Israel."