Вот как я достиг своей цели:
var $tabs = $("#tabContainer").tabs({
load: function(event, ui){
$("a.updateTab").live("click", function(){
// href for links are replaced by jq tabs with this pattern (pseudocode):
// a.href = "#" + a.title.replace(" ", "_")
// so we're searching a tab wich content should be reloaded
var tabItemId = "#Menu_" + "some text";
var index = $(".ui-tabs-panel", $tabs).index($(tabItemId));
$tabs.tabs("url", index, this.href);
$tabs.tabs("select", index);
return false;
});
}
});