[118217] in Cypherpunks
Time zone change allegedly kills terrorist bombers
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Bill Stewart)
Wed Sep 22 04:33:41 1999
Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19990922011055.00a89d80@idiom.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 01:10:55 -0700
To: cypherpunks@algebra.com
From: Bill Stewart <bill.stewart@pobox.com>
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referenced in RISKS-Digest
http://www.seattletimes.com/news/nation-world/html98/alttime_19990911.html
Copyright © 1999 Seattle Times Company
Posted at 09:50 p.m. PDT; Saturday, September 11, 1999
Did time run out for terrorist bombers?
by Barbara Demick
Knight Ridder Newspapers
JERUSALEM - Israelis and Palestinians may be forging ahead
on the big issues of peace, but they still disagree on one of the most
mundane fundamentals: What time is it?
Israeli time fell back last weekend, while the Palestinians,
like most of the rest of the world, remained on Daylight Saving Time.
The time difference always causes much confusion -
and, this year, apparently at least one blessing.
It appears the botched car bombings last Sunday in Tiberius and Haifa
may have gone awry because the terrorists were confused about
the time. One theory being explored is that the bombs and
timing devices were prepared by West Bank Palestinians,
who set them to go off shortly after 6 p.m., Palestinian time.
But those responsible for planting the bombs are believed
to have been residents of a village inside Israel,
for whom 6 p.m. was an hour later. The theory is that the
three Arab terrorists thought they had time to park the cars and
get away safely before the bombs inside
went off. They failed to take into account the time change.
The Haifa bomb exploded in a parking lot just after 5 p.m.,
killing the suspected bomber. Israeli police believe the
terrorist intended to plant the bomb in the bus station.
The Tiberius bomb exploded around the same time and
killed the two terrorists inside the car. There
was only one serious injury of an Israeli, a 73-year-old woman.
Israel has been resetting its clocks earlier than the
rest of the world for decades in deference to religious Jews
who must say penitential prayers before sunrise in the weeks
leading up to Yom Kippur, the day of atonement which this year
falls on Sept. 20.
