Sabbath dispute causes transport headaches in Israel

Israel saw major traffic jams on Sunday after a political dispute over work on the Jewish day of rest brought trains to a daylong halt, officials said.

The cancellations affected 150,000 passengers out of a daily total of 213,000, the country's rail company said, leading to replacement shuttle buses and gridlock on roads.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled rail work set to be undertaken over Sabbath, the weekly Jewish day of rest from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, after objections from ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties.

Ultra-orthodox parties, which demand strict adherence to Jewish law, hold key positions in Netanyahu's government and have often played a kingmaker role in Israel's politics.

They control 13 seats in Netanyahu's coalition, which includes 66 out of 120 seats in parliament.

Hit by the Sabbath ban, trains between the northern city of Haifa and commercial capital Tel Aviv could not run on Sunday morning, the start of the working week in Israel.

The work instead began after sunset Saturday, with the train service only resuming on Sunday evening after the rush-hour peak. 

Soldiers set to return to their bases after the weekend were reportedly among those affected by the morning cancellations, with special buses arranged for their transport in response.

Several hundred people protested in Tel Aviv and Haifa on Saturday at the disruptions, media reported.

Netanyahu was widely criticised over the cancellations, but he sought to blame Transport Minister Yisrael Katz, his rival within the right-wing Likud party.

He argued that Katz had no reason to order the work to go ahead over Sabbath.

"This crisis is completely unnecessary," Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting on Sunday.

"Ministers are named to avoid crises, not to create them."

The two men have frequently jousted and speculation has built over whether Netanyahu will fire Katz, who receives support from a key faction of Likud.

But after a snap poll for Israeli public radio on Sunday showed 80 percent of the public against such a move, with 43 percent of respondents fingering Netanyahu as mainly to blame for the uproar, media reports said Katz's job was no longer on the line.