Behind the violence boiling in Israel for over 2.5 years as a result of the conflict with the Palestinians, internal tensions between ultra-orthodox and secular Jews have continued to simmer. In the past few weeks, those internal tensions have heated up.

For the third Sabbath in a row, thousands of ultra-orthodox Jews gathered on Bar-Ilan Street, a main Jerusalem thoroughfare, to protest driving on the Sabbath and even to throw stones at passing cars. One policeman was injured in the head and seven ultra-orthodox residents were arrested. In addition to throwing stones at cars being driven on the Sabbath, past violent acts committed by ultra-orthodox Jews in an effort to influence how secular Jews dress, eat and observe the Sabbath include slashing tires on the cars of women not dressed modestly, physically attacking women not dressed modestly, causing damage to restaurants and stores with non-kosher food and burning Israeli flags.

Political analysts see the protests on the road as a response to Jerusalem's recently elected mayor, Uri Lupoliansky. Lupolianski is Jerusalem's first ultra-Orthodox mayor. Jerusalem's ultra-orthodox community are testing the ropes to see how much power they will be able to exert on the city under Lupoliansky. These same analysts predict the "testing" of the ultra-orthodox community will soon spread to shops that sell non-kosher food and businesses open on the Sabbath.

Preceding the election of Jerusalem's first ultra-orthodox mayor, a demographic and political shift has been taking place in Israel's capital city. While more and more secular Jews are leaving the city, the ultra-Orthodox population in Jerusalem has been rising. The ultra-orthodox community, distinctive for it black clothing and self-enclosed lifestyle, rears large families in keeping with the biblical instruction to be "fruitful and multiply". Lupoliansky himself is a father of 12 children. More than half of the Jerusalem's six-year-olds starting school this year will be from ultra-Orthodox homes.

Ophir Pines (Labor Party Member of Knesset) said that "Lupoliansky may have convinced the secular population that it is his intention to be everyone's mayor, but the ultra-Orthodox population is less convinced... It is impossible to agree to a situation of violence and we cannot allow brutality to dictate the state of affairs."

Shlomo Benizri (Ultra-Orthodox Shas Party Member of Knesset) called for concessions by the secular community in order to achieve peaceful co-existence between religious and secular. "Bar Ilan could be shut down for the entire Shabbat, not just during prayer times, with a loss of two minutes of the time of drivers, and no one would be hurt. In the name of peace with the Arabs there are many who are willing to return half of the nation - but two minutes for peace with the ultra-Orthodox is more than they are capable of."

Lupoliansky has promised to maintain the city's status quo. It will be interesting to see how the new Jerusalem mayor responds to this bold test of that promise.