Word: secularize
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...mayoral race widely seen as a struggle for the soul of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, a secular, high-tech multi-millionaire and ex-paratrooper, defeated Meir Porush, candidate of the city's large, ultra-orthodox Jewish community...
...Winner Barkat, 49, is eager to close the rift between Jerusalem's secular community and the black-hatted religious population, which widened during the fierce campaign. "Victory belongs to all those who love and cherish this special and amazing city of ours, the Jewish people's eternal capital," he said. "It belongs to the Right and the Left, it belongs to the religious and the secular...
...ultra-religious neighborhoods, which seem like a step back into 19th-century Eastern Europe, many Hassidic Jews either broke with tradition and voted for a secular candidate or left the mayoral ballot blank. Police say several brawls broke out between Porush supporters and jeering Hassidic youths...
...Most Israeli newspapers today touted Barkat as the savior of secular Jerusalem. The city's outgoing mayor is also ultra-orthodox, and many non-religious Jerusalemites chafed at the growing number of restrictions imposed on Sabbath activities. During campaigning, Porush said little about how he would sanctify Jerusalem, but many Israelis envisioned the city becoming a ghost town on the Sabbath, with all restaurants shut and cars banned from many neighborhoods. They also feared that Porush would have pushed for the segregation of men and women on buses and in municipal offices. Shalom Yerushalmi, a columnist for the daily Maariv...
...mayor may have trouble delivering such a secular 'miracle'. Taken together, ultra-orthodox parties will still be the largest block in Jerusalem's city council. In order to win over the large religious Zionist vote, Barkat, a former city councilman, swung from the center to the far right, campaigning on promises to build more Jewish settlements in Arab East Jerusalem. U.S. administrations and the international community have repeatedly said that these settlements are an obstacle to peace between Israelis and Palestinians...