El Al airline passengers in Bangkok were ordered off a plane due to the company's commitment not to desecrate the Sabbath.

The 120 passengers, some of whom already were on the plane, were told that mechanical problems would prevent the flight taking off to Tel Aviv as scheduled.

The flight crew contacted El-Al's CEO, Haim Romano, who decided to postpone the flight until after the Sabbath's end. Passengers were accommodated in Bangkok hotels. Religious passengers were booked at hotels within walking distance of Bangkok's Chabad House, where they held prayer services and ate Sabbath meals.

El Al noted that its decision cost tens of thousands of dollars. However, El Al remains committed to Sabbath observance. After its receiving information that there would be a doubt of Sabbath desecration, El Al's CEO decided to cancel the flight.

Ordered into the streets by their rabbis, thousands of ultra-orthodox protesters earlier this month tried to storm a car park next to the city hall after the new secular mayor, Nir Barkat, opened it on the Sabbath. Thousands of ultra-orthodox protesters hurled rockets, bottles and screams of "Nazis" at police before they were pushed back to their stronghold of Mea Shearim.

While Barkat's aides said the step was necessary because of a shortage of parking for Israeli tourists near Jerusalem's historic Old City, some ultra-orthodox leaders saw it as the start of an effort to make the more than 3,000-year-old biblical city's character more Western.

From our point of view, the character of Jerusalem is at stake. This is a city of sanctity. It is not a place for having a good time like Tel Aviv, said Shmuel Feffenheim, a spokesman for the Eda Haredit group that led the protests.

Secular leaders said the issue was not just parking but one of personal freedom. I don't force them into a car on Saturdays and they have no right to dictate to us how we live, said left-wing city councilor Laura Wharton.

After the protests, Mr Barkat postponed the opening of the facility for two weeks. He also took pains to assuage religious sensibilities by promising to have non-Jews who are not bound by Sabbath strictures staff the garage.

Ultra-orthodox leaders have promised even larger demonstrations.

No protest - indeed no story in my career - has distressed me in the way I was distressed at a protest in Jerusalem on Saturday involving several hundred ultra-Orthodox Jews.

This particular protest has been going on for weeks. Orthodox Jews are angry at the local council's decision to open a municipal carpark on Saturdays - or Shabbat, the day of rest for Jews.

I was aware that earlier protests had erupted into violence on previous weekends - Orthodox Jews throwing rocks at police, or setting rubbish bins alight, even throwing dirty nappies or rotting rubbish at anyone they perceive to be desecrating the Shabbat.

But I never expected their anger would be directed at me.

I was mindful I would need to dress conservatively and keep out of harm's way. But I made my mistake when I parked the car and started walking towards the protest, not fully sure which street was which. I suddenly found myself in the thick of the protest - in the midst of hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews in their long coats and sable-fur hats.

They might be supremely religious, but their behaviour - to me - was far from charitable or benevolent.

As the protest became noisier and the crowd began yelling, I took my recorder and microphone out of my bag to record the sound.

Suddenly the crowd turned on me, screaming in my face. Dozens of angry men began spitting on me.

Spit like rain

I found myself herded against a brick wall as they kept on spitting - on my face, my hair, my clothes, my arms.

It was like rain, coming at me from all directions - hitting my recorder, my bag, my shoes, even my glasses.

Big gobs of spit landed on me like heavy raindrops. I could even smell it as it fell on my face.

I wasn't even sure why the mob was angry with me. Was it because I was a journalist? Or a woman? Because I wasn't Jewish in an Orthodox area? Was I not dressed conservatively enough?

In fact, I was later told, it was because using a tape-recorder is itself a desecration of the Shabbat even though I'm not Jewish and don't observe the Sabbath.

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Working for peace... But taking Saturdays off!

Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem have protested outside the offices of the US firm, Intel, against the plant operating on the Jewish day of rest.

The demonstrators chanted Shabbes! Shabbes!, the Yiddish word for Sabbath when Jews are forbidden to work.

Intel, the world's biggest maker of computer chips, ringed its offices with barbed wire before the protest. There were no reports of violence.

More than 1,000 people took part in Saturday's rally. It was staged after talks between Intel and Jerusalem's Orthodox Jewish community broke down earlier this week.

Intel has been operating on Saturdays for years - and the company defends the policy. We have always worked according to the company's needs. If the needs call for it, we work on the Sabbath as well, Intel Israel spokesman Kobi Becker told Israel's Ynet website.

Dozens of ultra-Orthodox protestors demonstrated in Jerusalem Saturday to protest the opening of the Karta parking lot on the sabbath.

As opposed to recent rallies that remained largely orderly, protestors hurled stones at police vehicles stationed on Jerusalem's Shivtei Israel Street; no injuries were reported in the violence but there was some damage.

The demonstrators also torched several garbage dumpsters, but security forces deployed at the scene were able to keep the road open.

Hundreds of protestors have been rallying at the corner of Shivtei Israel and HaNevi'im Streets almost weekly in recent months to protest sabbath desecration.

Jewish riots aimed at preventing civilian traffic on the sabbath reached a new height on Saturday afternoon, when over a hundred men of various sects tried to scare secular residents into steering clear of the Jerusalem thoroughfare, shouting Shabbes, pelting cars with stones and spitting on passersby.

At least one secular man was arrested after being accused by police of provocation. The man was driving his car on Rehov Hanevi'im when a large rock was thrown at the vehicle. He stepped out of the car and asked an officer why the police had shown up in such small numbers, faced with such a large and violent crowd. He was told to get out of here or face arrest. When he said he had a right to use the road, he was handcuffed and taken away.

Police officers repeatedly pushed to the ground haredi men who were throwing themselves at the windshields of every passing car, while secular women who were dressed in a way considered immodest were spat upon. There were fewer than 10 police officers on the scene.